Australia – Nicknamed “Matilda”, Diamantinasaurus matildae is one of two species of dinosaur recently discovered in Australia.

The fossilized creature, measuring almost 60 feet long (about 18 meters), was unearthed north of the town of Winton, Queensland in 2006. The partial skeleton (about one third of the bones) of a new carnivore species, Australovenator wintonensis alias “Banjo”, was also found on the site.

These dinosaurs were named after characters from the works of the famous Australian poet Banjo Paterson.

Matilda, aged 98 million years, is the first sauropod to be described in Australia for 75 years, says team member Scott Hocknull, paleontologist and curator at the Geoscience Department of the Queensland Museum in Brisbane.

The fossils, described recently in the magazine Plos One, were presented at the Museum of Natural History Winton, on the occasion of the exhibition “Australian Age of Dinosaurs”on 3 July.

MATILDA

BANJO

BONES OF MATILDA