Thomas Rich, senior curator of vertebrate paleontology at Museums Victoria Research Institute, said: “The findings not only expand Australia’s theropod fossil record but offer compelling evidence of faunal interchange between Australia and South America through Antarctica during the Early Cretaceous.
Palaeontologists in Australia came across the oldest known fossil of the 20ft-long beast - technical name Megaraptorid - proving it was around for longer than scientists had thought.
Both dinosaurs are theropods - a group characterised by hollow bones and three toes with claws on each limb - and lived during tghe Cretaceous Period, which ran from 125 to 66million years ago.
Also unearthed in the digs along Victoria's stunning coastline was the first concrete evidence that another beast - the Carcharodontosaurs - roamed around on Australian soil.
DINOSAUR hunters have made a spectacular discovery which sheds new light on a giant "mega raptor" that stalked the Earth 120 million years ago.
