Tanzania fossil forces revision of dinosaur timeline
A newly described dicynodont links fossil layers in Tanzania with those in South America.
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Researchers have described a new species, approximately 240 million years old, from Tanzania. The find is not a dinosaur, but it could have implications for dating fossils considered to be among the oldest possible dinosaurs.
The species is called Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda and belongs to the dicynodonts, a group of herbivores within the synapsids: the evolutionary line that also includes mammals. The animal lived in the Triassic, well before dinosaurs became dominant. The species is described in the Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology.
The remains studied came from the Manda Beds in southern Tanzania. Some of the material had already been collected during a British expedition in 1963 and lay in museum collections for decades. By restudying a skeleton and a fragmentary skull, the researchers were able to assign the material to a newly named species.
Dinodontosaurus was already known from South America, but not from Africa. The similarity between the finds offers researchers a new way to link rock layers on the two continents. New radiometric dating from South America suggests that some early fossil layers may be up to ten million years younger than previously assumed.
That is relevant to the debate over Nyasasaurus and Asilisaurus, fossils from Tanzania that are regarded as early dinosaurs or close relatives of dinosaurs. If the age of their rock layers does indeed need to be adjusted, they may be no older than the earliest comparable fossils from South America.
The researchers present this as a refinement of the timeline, not as a definitive solution to the origins of dinosaurs. According to the scientists involved, the identification of some fossils from the Manda Beds remains uncertain. Further research must determine which remains belong to the same species and how precisely the different layers are related to one another.
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The species name, age, location and publication status have been confirmed by the university and independent science reporting. The text presents the implications for dinosaur evolution cautiously and notes the remaining uncertainty.
- confirmed Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda is approximately 240 million years old and comes from Tanzania. — The University of Bristol describes the species and its age. source
- confirmed The species is a dicynodont within the synapsids and is not a dinosaur. — The source describes the animal as a herbivorous dicynodont, a group within the synapsids. source
- confirmed Some of the material had already been collected in 1963. — This is stated in the University of Bristol press release. source
- confirmed The find could lead to a revision of the age of possible early dinosaurs from Tanzania. — The researchers present this as an implication of the geological correlation; the text does not call it a definitive conclusion. source
Editor's note
The species description was published in a peer-reviewed journal. The implications for the age of possible early dinosaurs are a scientific interpretation that requires further research.Sources
- New species of 240-million-year-old prehistoric animal from Tanzania discovered — University of Bristol
- 240 Mio. Jahre alte Dinosaurierart beschrieben — science.ORF.at
- Neue Art eines 240 Millionen Jahre alten Dicynodonten in Tansania entdeckt — scinexx
More on this in Dutch media
- RTL Nieuws — „dinosauriërs tanzania”
- NOS — „dinosauriërs tanzania”
- Het Parool — „dinosauriërs tanzania”