Did Spinosaurus Actually Reach Australia? The Evidence Is Complicated

Australia has some of the most distinctive and poorly understood Cretaceous dinosaur fauna on the planet — including Australovenator, one of the best-known predatory theropods from the continent, with its massive hooked hand claws. But could Australia have also hosted something even stranger? For years, paleontologists debated whether two fossil specimens from Victoria's Eumeralla Formation pointed to spinosaurids on the continent — a discovery that would have rewritten everything known about how far these dinosaurs spread across Gondwana. A 2008 ulna shared striking features with Megaraptor and spinosaurs. A 2011 neck vertebra found near Cape Otway most closely resembled the anatomy of Baryonyx, and phylogenetic analysis placed it closest to Siamosaurus of Thailand and Ichthyovenator of Laos. Both bones seemed to confirm an Australian spinosaur. Neither turned out to be what researchers hoped. In this video we dig into both fossil specimens, the three competing Gondwana breakup models (Africa First, Sam-Africa, and Pan-Gondwana), and the 2019 Poropat et al. reclassification that reassigned the vertebra not to Spinosauridae — but to the megaraptorans. A spinosaur mystery, a biogeographic debate, and a plot twist all in one video. ⏱ CHAPTERS: 0:00 - Introduction: Australia's Cretaceous Predators 1:02 - Spinosaur Origins Overview 2:27 - Australia, Antarctica & Gondwana 4:07 - Meet Australovenator 5:24 - What Are Megaraptorans? 6:53 - The 2008 Ulna: Australia's First Spinosaur Claim 9:35 - The 2011 Neck Vertebra (Barrett et al.) 11:14 - Gondwana Breakup Hypotheses 15:00 - What a Spinosaur in Australia Would Mean 16:07 - The 2019 Plot Twist: It's a Megaraptoran 17:52 - Conclusion 📬 Want early access to every video a week before everyone else? Support EDGE Science on Patreon for just $1:   / edgescience   __________________________________________________________________ Art in Thumbnail belongs to - LiterallyMiguel __________________________________________________________________ ✅ World of Monsters ✅    / @w0rldofmonsterz   ✅ EDGE Of Reality ✅    / @edgeofreality420   __________________________________________________________________ ✅ PATREON ✅   / edgescience   ✅ STICKERS & SHIRTS ✅ https://www.redbubble.com/people/Pain... ✅Facebook: facebook.com/ExpeditionDG/ ✅Twitter: twitter.com/NatSciChannel ✅Instagram: @edgeonthetrail ✅ MUSIC ✅ “Animal Planet’s The Most Extreme - Intro Theme” - PastEonsProductions “Not For Nothing” - Otis McDonald “Aitech” - Kevin MacLeod “Not My Problem” - Lee Rosevere “Tech Live” - Kevin MacLeod “On the Ground” - Kevin MacLeod “District Four” - Kevin MacLeod “Sci Fi” - Bensound __________________________________________________________________ If I've used something on my video that you don't want me to use, PLEASE EMAIL ME first before flagging a video, I'm very reasonable and will take the video down to replace whatever image or video belongs to you. Email: [email protected] __________________________________________________________________ ✅ RESEARCH ✅ Nathan D Smith, Peter J Makovicky, Federico L Agnolin, Martín D Ezcurra, Diego F Pais, Steven W Salisbury; A Megaraptor-like theropod (Dinosauria: Tetanurae) in Australia: support for faunal exchange across eastern and western Gondwana in the Mid-Cretaceous. Proc Biol Sci 1 September 2008; 275 (1647): 2085–2093. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0504 Barrett, P. M., Benson, R. B., Rich, T. H., & Vickers-Rich, P. (2011). First spinosaurid dinosaur from Australia and the cosmopolitanism of Cretaceous dinosaur faunas. Biology letters, 7(6), 933–936. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2011.0466 Benson RBJ, Rich TH, Vickers-Rich P, Hall M (2012) Theropod Fauna from Southern Australia Indicates High Polar Diversity and Climate-Driven Dinosaur Provinciality. PLoS ONE 7(5): e37122.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0037122 Stephen F. Poropat, Matt A. White, Patricia Vickers-Rich & Thomas H. Rich (2019): New megaraptorid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) remains from the Lower Cretaceous Eumeralla Formation of Cape Otway, Victoria, Australia, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2019.1666273 __________________________________________________________________ ✅ Hashtags ✅ #Spinosaurus #Australovenator #Megaraptor #Paleontology #EDGEScience __________________________________________________________________