New Zimbabwe dinosaur suggests region had its own species
A palaeontologist describes Musango matusadonaensis, a new Triassic dinosaur found near Musango Island in Zimbabwe. The team says Zimbabwe's dinosaurs include species found nowhere else, not just South African ones.
In an article on The Conversation, the palaeontologist describes an animal that walked on two legs, reached about 4.5 metres and weighed 220kg. The team, led from the University of the Witwatersrand, found it in rocks about 210 million years old. They suspect that environmental conditions explain the differences from South African species, but this is still being investigated. The article does not name the study or say whether it was peer-reviewed.