A new species of dinosaur, Musankwa sanyatiensis, has been named based on fossils found in Zimbabwe on the shores of Lake Kariba.


(Photo: WikimediaCommons/James St. John)

This vital find is one of only four dinosaur species named from Zimbabwe. It tells us a lot about how these old animals changed initially.

Discovering Musankwa Sanyatiensis

The fossils date back around 210 million years to the Late Triassic period and were discovered by a multinational team of experts. Along with Stony Brook University in New York and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, the team included the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe.

 

Professor Paul Barrett from the Natural History Museum in London led the group. The study will be written up in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

Musankwa sanyatiensis is shown by a single back leg comprising the thigh, shin, and ankle bones. Even though there isn't much to go on, these bones show unique traits that set this dinosaur apart from others who lived simultaneously.

Assistant professor at Stony Brook University and honorary partner at the Evolutionary Studies Institute at Wits, Dr. Kimberley "Kimi" Chapelle, said the fossil remains were unique. This dinosaur was named for the houseboat "Musankwa," the team's home and mobile lab, during their 2017 and 2018 field trips.

The Tonga word "Musankwa" means "boy close to marriage" to honor the significant ship to the study. The name also refers to the Sanyati River, which joins Lake Kariba.

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Evolutionary Importance and More General Involvement

Musankwa sanyatiensis coexisted with other sauropodomorph dinosaurs during the Late Triassic period. Sauropodomorpha dinosaurs possessed elongated necks and ambulated bipedally. It was a colossal dinosaur of its era, with a weight of approximately 390 kg and a height of 1.5 meters at the hip.

Evolutionary analysis shows that Musankwa sanyatiensis is closely linked to dinosaurs that lived simultaneously in South Africa and Argentina. This suggests that large dinosaur groups may have moved between these areas.

Africa is home to many dinosaur fossils. In fact, the first dinosaur found in the southern hemisphere was in South Africa, not long after Sir Richard Owen coined the word "dinosaur" in 1842.

But most of the remains of dinosaurs we know of have been found in just ten countries, mainly in the northern hemisphere. This is why there aren't many different kinds of African dinosaurs in the fossil record.

Professor Barrett says this is because of "undersampling," which shows that Africa needs more paleontological research. Although fewer fossils are found in Africa, many are important to history and science.

For example, Nyasasaurus parringtoni from Tanzania and Mbiresaurus raathi from Zimbabwe are two of the oldest dinosaurs known. South Africa, Tanzania, Niger, and Morocco also have a lot of dinosaur fossils. Zimbabwe's Late Triassic-Early Jurassic sediments are very important for learning about the End-Triassic extinction, a terrible event that changed Earth's species about 200 million years ago.

This finding shows that Zimbabwe has much-untapped potential for more paleontological study. New fossil sites have been found in the area in the last six years. These sites contain ancient animals, such as the first phytosaurs and metoposaurid amphibians from sub-Saharan Africa.

Dr. Chapelle was thrilled about the find and said, "Musankwa sanyatiensis is the first dinosaur of its kind from Zimbabwe based on where it sits on the dinosaur family tree." The findings show that the area could be an excellent place to find more fossils.

Scientists hope to find more exciting fossils that will help them learn more about how dinosaurs evolved and how their ecosystems changed over time as more fossil sites are found. Geologists have taken a big step forward when they saw a new sauropodomorph dinosaur in Zimbabwe's Mid-Zambezi Basin.

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