The South Polar region of the Cretaceous comprised the continent of East Gondwana–modern day Australia, Zealandia, and Antarctica–a product of the break-up of Gondwana in the Cretaceous Period. The southern region, during this time, was much warmer than it is today, ranging from perhaps 4–8 °C (39–46 °F) in the latest Cretaceous Maastrichtian in what is now southeastern Australia. This prevented permanent ice sheets from developing and fostered polar forests, which were largely dominated by conifers, cycads, and ferns, and relied on a temperate climate and heavy rainfall. Major fossil-bearing geological formations that record this area are: the Santa Marta and Sobral Formations of Seymour Island off the Antarctic Peninsula; the Snow Hill Island, Lopez de Bertodano, and the Hidden Lake Formations on James Ross Island also off the Antarctic Peninsula; and the Eumeralla and Wonthaggi Formations in Australia.
Kronosaurus is an extinct genus of large short-necked pliosaur that lived during the Aptian to Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous in what is now Australia. The first known specimen was received in 1899 and consists of a partially preserved mandibular symphysis, which was first thought to come from an ichthyosaur according to Charles De Vis. However, it was 1924 that Albert Heber Longman formally described this specimen as the holotype of an imposing pliosaurid, to which he gave the scientific name K. queenslandicus, which is still the only recognized species nowadays. The genus name, meaning "lizard of Kronos", refers to its large size and possible ferocity reminiscent of the Titan of the Greek mythology, while the species name alludes to Queensland, the Australian state of its discovery. In the early 1930s, the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology sent an organized expedition to Australia that recovered two specimens historically attributed to the taxon, including a well known skeleton that is now massively restored in plaster. Several attributed fossils were subsequently discovered, including two large, more or less partials skeletons. As the holotype specimen does not present diagnostics to concretely distinguish Kronosaurus from other pliosaurids, these same two skeletons are proposed as potential neotypes for future redescriptions. Two additional species were proposed, but these are now seen as unlikely or belonging to another genus.
Umoonasaurus is an extinct genus of plesiosaur belonging to the family Leptocleididae. This genus lived approximately 115 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous period, in shallow seas covering parts of what is now Australia. It was a relatively small animal around 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) long. An identifying trait of Umoonasaurus is the presence of three crest-ridges on its skull.
Woolungasaurus is a dubious genus of plesiosaur, an extinct marine reptile, belonging to the Elasmosauridae.
Cooyoo is an extinct genus of ichthyodectid ray-finned fish known from the Lower Cretaceous. It contains a single species, C. australis, known from the Albian-aged Toolebuc and Allaru Formations of Queensland, Australia. C. australis was originally named by Arthur Smith Woodward as a species of Portheus in 1894, which was later amended to Xiphactinus.
Ichthyodectiformes is an extinct order of marine stem-teleost ray-finned fish. The order is named after the genus Ichthyodectes, established by Edward Drinker Cope in 1870. Ichthyodectiforms are usually considered to be some of the closest relatives of the teleost crown group.
The Winton Formation is a Cretaceous geological formation in central-western Queensland, Australia. It is late Albian to early Turonian in age. The formation blankets large areas of central-western Queensland. It consists of sedimentary rocks such as sandstone, siltstone and claystone. The sediments that make up these rocks represent the remnants of the river plains that filled the basin left by the Eromanga Sea - an inland sea that covered large parts of Queensland and central Australia at least four times during the Early Cretaceous period. Great meandering rivers, forest pools and swamps, creeks, lakes and coastal estuaries all left behind different types of sediment.
Aspidorhynchidae is an extinct family of ray-finned fish from the Mesozoic Era. It is the only member of the monotypic order Aspidorhynchiformes. Members of the group are noted for their elongated, conical rostrums, of varying length, formed from fused premaxillae. The range of the group extends from the Middle Jurassic to the end of the Maastrichtian, with a potential record from the Late Paleocene. The family and order were described by Pieter Bleeker in 1859.
Cratochelone is an extinct genus of sea turtle in the family Protostegidae and containing a single species Cratochelone berneyi. The species is known only from the mid to late Albian Toolebuc Formation, part of the Rolling Downs Group, in the Hughenden of Central northern Queensland, Australia.
Mythunga is a genus of anhanguerid pterosaur from the late Early Cretaceous of Australia. Fossil remains of Mythunga dated back to the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous, and the animal itself was found to be a close relative of another Australian anhanguerid called Ferrodraco.
The Allaru Formation, also known as the Allaru Mudstone, is a geological formation in Queensland, Australia, whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.
The Eumeralla Formation is a geological formation in Victoria, Australia whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous. It is Aptian to Albian in age. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, particularly from the Dinosaur Cove locality.
Eromangasaurus is an extinct genus of elasmosaurid known from northern Queensland of Australia.
Flindersichthys is an extinct genus of prehistoric bony fish that lived during the Albian stage of the Early Cretaceous epoch.
Dwardius is an extinct genus of cardabiodontid sharks which existed during the Cretaceous period in what is now Australia, England, France, and India. It was described by Mikael Siverson in 1999, as a new genus for the species Cretalamna woodwardi, which had been described by J. Hermann in 1977. Another species, D. siversoni, was described from the middle Albian of northeastern France by V.I. Zhelezko in 2000; the species epithet honours the author of the genus. A new species, D. sudindicus, was described by Charlie J. Underwood, Anjali Goswami, G.V.R. Prasad, Omkar Verma, and John J. Flynn in 2011, from the Cretaceous Karai Formation of India.
Australian Age of Dinosaurs Ltd. (AAOD) is a nonprofit organization located in Winton, Queensland, founded by David Elliott and Judy Elliott in 2002. The organization’s activities include the operation of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History, which holds annual dinosaur digs in the Winton Formation of Western Queensland and oversees the year-round operation of Australia's most productive dinosaur fossil preparation laboratory. Since 2005, the AAOD Museum has accumulated the largest collection of Australian dinosaur fossils in the world and holds the holotype specimens of Diamantinasaurus matildae, Savannasaurus elliottorum, Australovenator wintonensis, Australia's most complete theropod skeleton, Ferrodraco lentoni, the first pterosaur to be named from the Winton Formation, and Confractosuchus sauroktonos. The museum is open to the public daily from April to October and is open six days a week from November to March. The site of the museum was designated a dark-sky preserve, the first International Dark-Sky Sanctuary in Australia, in 2019.
The Bulldog Shale is a formation of Early Cretaceous age that forms part of the Marree Subgroup of the Rolling Downs Group, located in the Eromanga Basin of South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales.
Eiectus is a potentially valid genus of extinct short-necked pliosaur that lived in the Early Cretaceous period. Fossil material has been recovered from the Wallumbilla Formation (Aptian) of Queensland was initially classified under the related genus Kronosaurus until 2021.
Patagopelta is an extinct genus of ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Allen Formation of Argentina. The genus contains a single species, P. cristata, known from a partial skeleton. While originally described as a nodosaurine, later discoveries provided support for parankylosaurian affinities for the taxon. Patagopelta is a very small ankylosaur, comparable in size to the dwarf nodosaurid Struthiosaurus, about 2 m (6.6 ft) long.
Haliskia is an extinct genus of anhanguerian pteranodontoid pterosaurs from the Early Cretaceous Toolebuc Formation of Australia. The genus contains a single species, H. peterseni, known from a partial skeleton with skull. Haliskia represents the most complete pterosaur known from Australia.
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