Weewarrasaurus is a type of dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period. This dinosaur was part of a group called ornithopods, which were known for their ability to walk on two legs and eat plants. Weewarrasaurus was discovered in the Griman Creek Formation near Lightning Ridge, in New South Wales, Australia.
The first and only species of this dinosaur is called Weewarrasaurus pobeni. It is mainly known from a jawbone that was found preserved in beautiful opal. This jawbone is special because it had teeth still attached. The discovery of Weewarrasaurus is quite exciting as it helps us understand the different types of dinosaurs that lived in Australia at that time.
In 2013, miners found the jawbone while mining for opals. Unfortunately, it got broken during the digging process. An opal dealer named Mike Poben recognized it as a fossil after he received it in a bag of rough opals. He then showed it to a palaeontologist named Phil Bell in 2014, who realized how important this find was. Poben later donated the fossil to the Australian Opal Centre, which has the largest collection of opal fossils in the world.
In December 2018, researchers named this new dinosaur in a scientific paper. The name Weewarrasaurus comes from the location where it was discovered. The “saurus” part means “lizard” in Greek. The species name, pobeni, is in honor of Mike Poben for his help in recognizing the fossil.
Besides the main jawbone, scientists also found another partial jawbone that had similar teeth. This second piece was found at a nearby site in the same area, suggesting that both bones belonged to the same kind of dinosaur.
Overall, the discovery of Weewarrasaurus helps paint a picture of the diverse life that existed in Australia millions of years ago!