Wits scientists help discover fossils of new dinosaur species in Zimbabwe

A recent fossil found on the shores of Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe has led to the discovery of a completely new dinosaur species.

The scientists who found the remains named them Musankwa sanyatiensis.

This discovery is the fourth dinosaur species named from Zimbabwe and the first from the Mid-Zambezi Basin in over 50 years.

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Distinguished fossils

The research team, led by Professor Paul Barrett from the Natural History Museum in London, included scientists from Wits University in South Africa.

It also included experts from the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe and Stony Brook University in New York.

The team’s findings were published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

According to Dr. Kimberley ‘Kimi’ Chapelle, assistant professor at Stony Brook University, Musankwa sanyatiensis is represented by the remains of a single hind leg, including its thigh, shin, and ankle bones.

“Despite the limited fossil material, these bones possess unique features that distinguish them from those of other dinosaurs living at the same time,” Chapelle added.

It was named Musankwa sanyatiensis after the houseboat “Musankwa,” which served as the research team’s home and mobile laboratory during two field expeditions to Lake Kariba in 2017 and 2018.

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Herbivore

Evolutionary analysis reveals that Musankwa sanyatiensis was a member of the Sauropodomorpha.

This is a group of bipedal, long-necked dinosaurs that were widespread during the Late Triassic.

Weighing in at around 390 kg, the plant-eating Musankwa sanyatiensis was one of the larger dinosaurs of its era.

Underrepresentation of African fossil findings

Although there aren’t many findings of this nature in Africa, a lot of the discovered fossils have significance in history and science.

The first dinosaur discovered in the southern hemisphere was found in South Africa in 1845. This was after Sir Richard Owen coined the word “dinosaur” three years earlier. Ten countries in the Northern Hemisphere have discovered dinosaur fossils.

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“The main reason for the underrepresentation of African dinosaur fossils is ‘undersampling’,” said Barrett.

“Put simply, there have been fewer people looking for and unearthing dinosaurs in comparison with other regions of the world,” he added.

Furthermore, Chapelle said the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic sediments of Zimbabwe are important for understanding the End-Triassic extinction, a catastrophic event that dramatically reshaped Earth’s biodiversity around 200 million years ago.

Chapelle expressed hope for discovering important other finds that will unveil and explain the early evolution of dinosaurs and their habitats.

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“Based on where it sits on the dinosaur family tree, Musanwka sanyatiensis is the first dinosaur of its kind from Zimbabwe,” Chapelle explained.

“It, therefore, highlights the potential of the region for further palaeontological discoveries,” she added.