Article by: Zak Lewis, Charlie Scherer, Cassius Morrison, and Harry T. Jones
In a new study led by the University of Bristol, the geographic origins and migration patterns of bizarre fish-eating dinosaurs have been revealed.
Spinosaurids were large, crocodile-faced dinosaurs that specialised in hunting fish, with some evolving elaborate sails along their backs, including the iconic Spinosaurus.
“Spinosaurus famously starred as the main antagonist in the blockbuster movie Jurassic Park 3, facing off against Tyrannosaurus rex,” says Harry Jones, a PhD student from the University of Birmingham. He continues, “The spinosaurid fossil record is notoriously fragmentary, which makes these animals difficult to interpret and results in controversial theories regarding their lifestyles. Our work compiles these remains to unravel how these dinosaurs achieved a near-global distribution.”
The research suggests that spinosaurids likely originated in Europe, where they later diversified in Southern England, Portugal, and Spain in the early Cretaceous. They then migrated from Europe into Asia during a period of sea-level decline, either around 140 or 120 million years ago, when a land bridge allowed them to cross an ancient ocean that submerged much of Eastern Europe.
Zak Lewis, the lead author of the study and research associate of the University of Bristol, says, “We used computer modelling to resolve where these dinosaurs originated, when and how they spread across the planet, and why they did not reach certain continents when other dinosaurs could.”
The spinosaurids also dispersed southwards from Europe twice, most likely between 140-120 million years ago, when an ancient island chain once connected Southern Italy to North Africa. During this time, Africa had not yet split apart from South America, so arriving species were free to move between both continents.
Image credit: Zak Lewis.
Mysteriously, these dinosaurs do not appear in North America, Australia, and Antarctica, despite other large predatory dinosaurs managing to migrate to these areas.
Charlie Scherer, a PhD student from University College London, comments, “We found that spinosaurids almost exclusively appear in hot climates similar to modern Kenya or Senegal. This apparent preference might have prevented their arrival in Australia and Antarctica, which were both joined at the South Pole, and in North America, where high-latitude land bridges may have been too cold for them to cross.”
Spinosaurids specialised in catching fish and so were probably tied to semi-aquatic environments, which may have made it difficult for them to disperse into new regions.
“Perhaps rivers and lakes in warm climates were optimal foraging spots, fit for a large fish-eating dinosaur,” Zak added.
Dr. Cassius Morrison from the University of Leeds said, “The study emphasises that these specialised dinosaurs were sensitive to their environment and habitat, and it might offer a clue as to how they eventually went extinct.” He continues, “This finding has timely implications for modern specialist animals in the face of the current climate crisis.”
You can find the reference and link for our open-access paper below – it’s free to read! This press release is a first for us here at Darwin’s Door, so we hope you enjoy our coverage of some hot-off-the-press research. Keep an eye out for more articles like this, coming soon(ish)…
Lewis, Z.E. et al. (2026) ‘Sailing to Gondwana: multiple waves of spinosaurid dispersal to the southern continents’, Royal Society Open Science, 13 (10): 260994. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.260994