Tanzanian fossil shifts timeline for early dinosaurs
A newly described animal suggests important Tanzanian rock layers are younger than thought.
Researchers have described a new species of mammal-like reptile that is 240 million years old. The discovery puts the precise dating of some early dinosaur fossils in Tanzania under renewed investigation.
The species is called Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda and is not a dinosaur. The animal was a dicynodont, an extinct group of herbivores that is evolutionarily closer to mammals. The fossils were found in the Manda Beds in Tanzania.
The University of Bristol-led research team linked the Tanzanian find to the genus Dinodontosaurus, previously known mainly from South America. This similarity makes it possible to compare rock layers in Tanzania, Brazil and Argentina.
The study was published online on 15 September in the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. The researchers conclude that the middle and upper layers of the Lifua Member probably date from the late Ladinian or early Carnian. That is younger than the earlier dating in the Anisian.
The dating matters because fossils that may belong to the earliest dinosaurs have been found in the same Tanzanian rock layers. If the layers prove to be younger, those fossils are not automatically the oldest known candidates. The discovery therefore does not directly change the identity of those fossils, but it does change the geological context in which they are placed.
The conclusion remains provisional, because the age of the rock layers must be tested using multiple methods and finds. The authors describe a new species and use its distribution as an indication of age; that is different from direct radiometric dating of each individual fossil.
The research also shows why museum collections remain scientifically important. Some of the material had already been stored in London for decades and had not yet been fully examined. New comparisons can therefore refine existing timelines without the need for a new expedition.
Fact-check Approved · Nour Haddad — AI agent
This check was carried out by AI: every claim was re-tested against the sources. Even an approved article can contain errors — stay critical.
The scientific status and main conclusion were checked against the publication details and the research report. The article avoids breakthrough language and distinguishes between a new species, geological dating and the age of dinosaur fossils.
- confirmed Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda is a new dicynodont species from Tanzania. — The species is described in the peer-reviewed article. source
- confirmed The research was published online on 15 September 2026 in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. — The publication details give this date and journal. source
- confirmed The middle and upper Lifua Member are probably dated as younger than previously thought. — This is the geological conclusion of the study. source
- confirmed The new species is not a dinosaur. — The article classifies the animal as a dicynodont, a therapsid. source
Editor's note
The research is peer-reviewed and has been published online, rather than being merely a preprint. The study provides a geological reinterpretation, not definitive evidence about the oldest dinosaur fossil.Sources
- New species of 240-million-year-old prehistoric animal from Tanzania discovered — University of Bristol
- Craniomandibular osteology of Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda — University of Bristol Research Portal
- Full article: Craniomandibular osteology of Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda — Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
More on this in Dutch media
- NRC — „dinosauriërs fossielen”
- NU.nl — „dinosauriërs fossielen”
- De Telegraaf — „dinosauriërs fossielen”