A new genus and species of large sauropod dinosaur has been identified from fossils discovered on the shores of Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe.
Artist image MusankwasanyatyensisWading past a Metoposaurus in shallow Triassic waters. Image by Atashni Moopen/Sci.News.
The newly described species lived in Africa during the Late Triassic period, about 210 million years ago.
Named Musankwasanyatyensis, the dinosaur is estimated to have reached a height of about 1.5 meters and a weight of 390 kilograms.
It is Maspoda, a group of sauropod dinosaurs that lived from the Late Triassic to the Late Cretaceous.
“Our evolutionary tree shows that new species Riojasaurus from Argentina and Eucnemesaurus from South Africa,” said Professor Paul Barrett of London’s Natural History Museum and his colleagues.
“This may mean that these animals were a widespread group of dinosaurs that could have migrated between what is now South America and South Africa.”
“This particular species dates back to the Late Triassic period, when dinosaurs were getting larger and beginning to dominate ecosystems.”
“This is an important period to study because it’s when they started to become more diverse and spread across the world.”
Paleontologists are Musankwasanyatyensis — A single hind leg, including thigh, shin, and ankle bones — discovered at the Sparwing East Paleosoil Site. Pebble Arcose Formation is located in Zimbabwe, in the middle reaches of the Zambezi River, on Lake Kariba, and on the northeast coast of Sparwing Island.
The new species is the fourth named dinosaur discovered in Zimbabwe’s Karoo Basin.
It is also the first river to be named from the middle Zambezi basin in over 50 years.
“Over the past six years many new fossil sites have been discovered in Zimbabwe, revealing a diverse range of prehistoric animals, including sub-Saharan Africa’s first phytosaurs (ancient crocodile-like reptiles), metoposaur amphibians (giant armored amphibians), lungfish, and other reptile fossils,” Professor Barrett said.
“The main reason we don’t know many dinosaur fossils from Africa is a lack of samples,” said Dr. Kimberly Chappelle, a paleontologist at Stony Brook University and the University of the Witwatersrand.
“Based on the dinosaur’s position on the family tree, Musanga sanyantiensis is the first dinosaur to be discovered in Zimbabwe.”
“Thus, it becomes clear that the area has great potential for further paleontological discoveries.”
Discovery Musankwasanyatyensis has been reported paper in the journal Polish Journal of Palaeontology.
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Paul M. Barrett others2024. A new Late Triassic sauropodomorph dinosaur discovered in the middle Zambezi River basin, Zimbabwe. Polish Journal of Palaeontology 69(2):227-241; doi: 10.4202/app.01100.2023
Source: www.sci.news
