Ornithopod diversity in the Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), New South Wales, Australia

During the Early Cretaceous, dinosaur communities of the Australian-Antarctic rift system (Eumeralla and Wonthaggi formations) cropping out in Victoria were apparently dominated by a diverse small-bodied ‘basal ornithopod’ fauna. Further north, in Queensland (Winton and Mackunda formations), poorly-...

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Published in:PeerJ
Main Authors: Phil R. Bell, Matthew C. Herne, Tom Brougham, Elizabeth T. Smith
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: PeerJ Inc. 2018
Subjects:
R
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6008
https://doaj.org/article/3ff0412528604576b89f43f8cb7ada5d
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spelling ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:3ff0412528604576b89f43f8cb7ada5d 2024-01-07T09:40:09+01:00 Ornithopod diversity in the Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), New South Wales, Australia Phil R. Bell Matthew C. Herne Tom Brougham Elizabeth T. Smith 2018-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6008 https://doaj.org/article/3ff0412528604576b89f43f8cb7ada5d EN eng PeerJ Inc. https://peerj.com/articles/6008.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/6008/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.6008 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/3ff0412528604576b89f43f8cb7ada5d PeerJ, Vol 6, p e6008 (2018) Cretaceous Dinosauria Ornithischia Ornithopoda Griman creek formation Australia Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6008 2023-12-10T01:52:30Z During the Early Cretaceous, dinosaur communities of the Australian-Antarctic rift system (Eumeralla and Wonthaggi formations) cropping out in Victoria were apparently dominated by a diverse small-bodied ‘basal ornithopod’ fauna. Further north, in Queensland (Winton and Mackunda formations), poorly-represented small-bodied ornithopods coexisted with large-bodied iguanodontians. Our understanding of the ornithopod diversity from the region between the Australian-Antarctic rift and Queensland, represented by Lightning Ridge in central-northern New South Wales (Griman Creek Formation), has been superficial. Here, we re-investigate the ornithopod diversity at Lightning Ridge based on new craniodental remains. Our findings indicate a diverse ornithopod fauna consisting of two-to-three small-bodied non-iguanodontian ornithopods (including Weewarrasaurus pobeni gen. et sp. nov.), at least one indeterminate iguanodontian, and a possible ankylopollexian. These results support those of previous studies that favour a general abundance of small-bodied basal ornithopods in Early to mid-Cretaceous high-latitude localities of southeastern Australia. Although these localities are not necessarily time-equivalent, increasing evidence indicates that Lightning Ridge formed a ‘meeting point’ between the basal ornithopod-dominated localities in Victoria and the sauropod-iguanodontian faunas in Queensland to the north. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic Queensland PeerJ 6 e6008
institution Open Polar
collection Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles
op_collection_id ftdoajarticles
language English
topic Cretaceous
Dinosauria
Ornithischia
Ornithopoda
Griman creek formation
Australia
Medicine
R
Biology (General)
QH301-705.5
spellingShingle Cretaceous
Dinosauria
Ornithischia
Ornithopoda
Griman creek formation
Australia
Medicine
R
Biology (General)
QH301-705.5
Phil R. Bell
Matthew C. Herne
Tom Brougham
Elizabeth T. Smith
Ornithopod diversity in the Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), New South Wales, Australia
topic_facet Cretaceous
Dinosauria
Ornithischia
Ornithopoda
Griman creek formation
Australia
Medicine
R
Biology (General)
QH301-705.5
description During the Early Cretaceous, dinosaur communities of the Australian-Antarctic rift system (Eumeralla and Wonthaggi formations) cropping out in Victoria were apparently dominated by a diverse small-bodied ‘basal ornithopod’ fauna. Further north, in Queensland (Winton and Mackunda formations), poorly-represented small-bodied ornithopods coexisted with large-bodied iguanodontians. Our understanding of the ornithopod diversity from the region between the Australian-Antarctic rift and Queensland, represented by Lightning Ridge in central-northern New South Wales (Griman Creek Formation), has been superficial. Here, we re-investigate the ornithopod diversity at Lightning Ridge based on new craniodental remains. Our findings indicate a diverse ornithopod fauna consisting of two-to-three small-bodied non-iguanodontian ornithopods (including Weewarrasaurus pobeni gen. et sp. nov.), at least one indeterminate iguanodontian, and a possible ankylopollexian. These results support those of previous studies that favour a general abundance of small-bodied basal ornithopods in Early to mid-Cretaceous high-latitude localities of southeastern Australia. Although these localities are not necessarily time-equivalent, increasing evidence indicates that Lightning Ridge formed a ‘meeting point’ between the basal ornithopod-dominated localities in Victoria and the sauropod-iguanodontian faunas in Queensland to the north.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Phil R. Bell
Matthew C. Herne
Tom Brougham
Elizabeth T. Smith
author_facet Phil R. Bell
Matthew C. Herne
Tom Brougham
Elizabeth T. Smith
author_sort Phil R. Bell
title Ornithopod diversity in the Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), New South Wales, Australia
title_short Ornithopod diversity in the Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), New South Wales, Australia
title_full Ornithopod diversity in the Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), New South Wales, Australia
title_fullStr Ornithopod diversity in the Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), New South Wales, Australia
title_full_unstemmed Ornithopod diversity in the Griman Creek Formation (Cenomanian), New South Wales, Australia
title_sort ornithopod diversity in the griman creek formation (cenomanian), new south wales, australia
publisher PeerJ Inc.
publishDate 2018
url https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6008
https://doaj.org/article/3ff0412528604576b89f43f8cb7ada5d
geographic Antarctic
Queensland
geographic_facet Antarctic
Queensland
genre Antarc*
Antarctic
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctic
op_source PeerJ, Vol 6, p e6008 (2018)
op_relation https://peerj.com/articles/6008.pdf
https://peerj.com/articles/6008/
https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359
doi:10.7717/peerj.6008
2167-8359
https://doaj.org/article/3ff0412528604576b89f43f8cb7ada5d
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