Theropods Down Under: Australia’s Carnivorous Dinosaurs

Talks on Tuesdays is a live event series bringing big ideas, real experts, and curious minds together – at your favourite local venues. Think thought-provoking lectures, audience questions, and post-talk mingling over drinks and dinner.

This isn’t a uni lecture. It’s a social, intelligent night out.Come alone or with friends, leave with something to talk about.

Event Schedule:

6.30pm Arrival & Doors Open

7pm Lecuture Starts

7.45pm Q&A

8pm Talk Concludes

8.30pm Event Closes.

*Please arrive close to 6.30pm

A La Carte menu and full bar available throughout the night – pay as you go.

Your Topic:

Title: Theropods Down Under: Australia’s Carnivorous DinosaursBlurb: If you were asked to name a carnivorous dinosaur (theropod), there are likely three that spring to mind: Tyrannosaurus, Velociraptor or Spinosaurus. But if asked, would you be able to name an Australian theropod?Although theropods were globally distributed during the Cretaceous, the Australian record is among the poorest as the overwhelming majority of fossils are isolated bones.Join Dr Jake Kotevski on a journey through time as he summarises the history of Australian theropods, including changing perceptions and the modern consensus. Learn about the Megaraptoridae, a group of theropods found only in Australia and South America, which may have been Australia’s apex predators during the Cretaceous. Get a closer look at Australovenator wintonensis, Australia’s best known carnivorous dinosaur, as well as ongoing discoveries in Australian dinosaur palaeontology.

Your Speaker:

Dr Jake Kotevski is a vertebrate palaeontologist affiliated with Monash University and the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History. For the last four and a half years, Jake has been a field palaeontologist and comparative anatomist, focussing on a revision of the record of theropod (carnivorous) dinosaurs from Australia. To accomplish this, Jake has utilised new fossil discoveries globally, supplemented by a diverse range of technologies, to advance the understanding of Australian theropods. Jake has both joined and led field surveys and fossil digs in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Jake has published on the first carcharodontosaurs found in Australia, the first upper-skull bone of an Australian theropod, and continues to pursue new and exciting discoveries.