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ZoomDinosaurs.com
DINOSAUR FOSSILS
First Dino Fossil Discoveries What are Fossils? How Fossils Form Types of Fossils Finding Fossils Dating Fossils Excavating Fossils Bony Jigsaw Puzzles Famous Fossil Hunters
Fossil Locations Worldwide
North American
Fossils
South American
Fossils
African
Fossils
Asian
Fossils
European
Fossils
Australian
Fossils
Antarctic
Fossils

FOSSILS FROM MESOZOIC ERA ANTARCTICA
Antarctica is an icy continent that is now at the south pole of the Earth. It was not always located there and was not always so cold and desolate. Continental drift has moved this continent (and the others) around the globe. The Antarctic was at the Earth's equator during the Cambrian period, roughly 500 million years ago.

PangaeaAs the continents drifted atop the more liquid interior layers of the Earth, the Antarctic drifted south during the time of the dinosaurs (the Mesozoic Era) when it was attached to Australia. During that time, it had no glaciers, and housed many animals, including some dinosaurs.

Over the millennia, Antarctica drifted farther south, separated completely from Australia, and is now located at the South Pole of the Earth.

Continental Drift
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Key


FOSSILS FOUND IN ANTARCTICA
Names followed by an asterisk (*) are not dinos, but other interesting fossils
Underlined names are links to information sheets.
Names in quotation marks are unofficial.

an unnamed Theropod
A bipedal, meat-eating dinosaur (a theropod) was discovered by Judd Case, James Martin and their team on James Ross Island in late 2003. Fossils found include lower leg and foot bones, fragments of the upper jaw, and some teeth. The dinosaur was about 1.8 to 2.4 meters (6 to 8 feet) tall. This Cretaceous period dinosaur lived about 70 million years ago, towards the end of the Mesozoic Era.

an unnamed Sauropod
A bipedal, long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur (a sauropod) was discovered in the Antarctic interior by William R. Hammer and his team in late 2003. Fossils found include the pelvis (a hip bone 3 meters wide) with the ilium (one of a dinosaur's hip bones). The dinosaur was over 9 meters (30 feet) long. This Jurassic period dinosaur lived about 200 million years ago.

a Nodosaurid Ankylosaur
An armored, quadrupedal, plant eating late Cretaceous period dinosaur was discovered in 1986 on James Ross Island (Olivero, E., Scasso, R. and C. Rinaldi ). This was the first dinosaur found in Antarctica.
Cryolophosaurus
A crested meat-eater (a theropod dinosaur) about 20 ft (8 m) long from the early Jurassic period. It was found in 1994 by Hammer, William R. and W. J. Hickerson.

an unnamed hadrosaur

A duck-billed, bipedal, plant eating dinosaur was discovered by Jim Martin of the Museum of Geology in South Dakota, USA on Vega and Seymour Islands in early 1998.

a Hypsilophodontid
a plant-eating ornithopod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period was found on the Lopez de Bertodano Formation on Vega Island in 1991 (Hooker, J.J., Milner, A.C. and S.E.K. Sequeira ).

an unnamed iguanodontid
A 12 foot (4 m) long bipedal, plant eating iguanodontid dinosaur was discovered in February, 1999 on a rocky beach of James Ross Island.
unnamed Plateosaurid prosauropods - plant eating dinosaurs from the early Jurassic period. Lystrosaurus*
a small dicynodont, an herbivorous mammal-like reptile (not a dinosaur)

mosasaurs*

Aquatic reptiles (not dinosaurs)

plesiosaurs*

Aquatic reptiles (not dinosaurs) with four flippers.



Read an article about a duck-billed dinosaur found in Antarctica.

References:
Hammer, W.R. 1990. Triassic terrestrial vertebrate faunas of Antarctica; pp. 42-50 in T.N. and E.L. Taylor (eds.), Antarctic Paleobiology: Its Role in the Reconstruction of Gondwanaland. Springer-Verlag, New York.

Hammer, W.R. and W.J. Hickerson 1994. A crested theropod dinosaur from Antarctica. Science 264:828-830.

Hooker, J.J., Milner, A.C. and S.E.K. Sequeira 1991. An ornithopod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of West Antarctica. Antarctic Science 3(3):331-332.

Olivero, E., Scasso, R. and C. Rinaldi 1986. Revision of the Marambio Group, James Ross Island, Antarctica. Contributions of the Antarctic Institute of Argentina 331:1-30.




ZoomDinosaurs.com
DINOSAUR FOSSILS
First Dino Fossil Discoveries What are Fossils? How Fossils Form Types of Fossils Finding Fossils Dating Fossils Excavating Fossils Bony Jigsaw Puzzles Famous Fossil Hunters
Fossil Locations Worldwide
North American
Fossils
South American
Fossils
African
Fossils
Asian
Fossils
European
Fossils
Australian
Fossils
Antarctic
Fossils



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