Harare — Scientists have identified a new dinosaur species from fossils discovered along the shores of Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, providing fresh evidence about the early evolution and diversification of dinosaurs in southern Africa.
Named Musango matusadonaensis, the dinosaur lived about 210 million years ago during the Late Triassic period, when dinosaurs were still relatively early in their evolutionary history.
The species was described in a study published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. Researchers say the discovery adds to growing evidence that southern Africa once supported a much greater diversity of dinosaurs than the fossil record currently shows.
The fossils were excavated in 2018 at the Musango Archosaur Site near Musango Island on the southern margin of Lake Kariba. The specimen consists of a partial but associated skeleton, including vertebrae, ribs, shoulder and hip bones and portions of the fore and hind limbs.
The remains were initially found eroding from rocks close to the lake shore. An international team involving researchers from Zimbabwe, South Africa and the United Kingdom later returned to excavate and study the fossils.
A small ancestor of giant dinosaurs
Musango matusadonaensis belonged to the sauropodomorphs, an early branch of the dinosaur family tree that would eventually produce the enormous long-necked sauropods, including dinosaurs such as Diplodocus.
Unlike those later giants, however, Musango was relatively small.
Researchers estimate that the animal weighed about 220 kilograms and was approximately 4.5 metres long. It walked on two legs and was probably a late juvenile or adult when it died. Analysis of its bone tissue indicates that the individual had reached at least eight years of age and that its growth was slowing.
Its anatomy distinguishes it from another sauropodomorph, Musankwa sanyatiensis, previously identified from the same geological formation.
The researchers’ evolutionary analysis places the two species as close relatives within Unaysauridae, a group of early sauropodomorph dinosaurs known from the Late Triassic period of Gondwana.
That finding matters because the African fossil record has long been uneven. Some parts of the continent have produced extraordinary dinosaur fossils; others remain almost blank on the palaeontological map.
And that blankness can be deceptive.
Africa’s fossil record still has gaps
The discovery of Musango is only the fifth formally named dinosaur species from Zimbabwe, according to the Natural History Museum in London.
Researchers say the scarcity of dinosaur fossils from Africa does not necessarily mean dinosaurs were uncommon on the continent. Rather, scientists have historically conducted fewer systematic excavations in many African regions compared with North America, Europe and parts of South America.
The Natural History Museum described the discovery as part of a broader effort to “fill in the palaeontological map” of southern Africa, where researchers believe many more species may still be buried in ancient rock formations.
The fossil-bearing rocks around Lake Kariba belong to the Pebbly Arkose Formation, part of the Upper Karoo Group. They preserve evidence of an ancient terrestrial and freshwater ecosystem that existed long before modern Africa took its present shape.
Interestingly, the researchers found that the dinosaur fauna preserved in Zimbabwe does not currently overlap with the dinosaur species known from the nearby Karoo Basin of South Africa, despite the regions’ geographic proximity and similar geological ages.
This suggests that southern Africa’s prehistoric landscapes may have been more environmentally diverse than previously assumed.
A dinosaur found beside a modern lake
There is an irony in the discovery’s location.
Lake Kariba is a modern human-made lake, created by the construction of the Kariba Dam across the Zambezi River in the 1950s. Yet beneath and around its shores lie rocks recording a world that existed roughly 210 million years ago.
The new species takes its name from its surroundings. “Musango” refers to the Musango Concession Area and nearby Musango Island, while “matusadonaensis” honours the adjacent Matusadona National Park. The researchers note that Musango is a ChiShona word that can be translated as “living in the bush.”
The discovery therefore connects three different histories in one name: the ancient animal, the modern Zimbabwean landscape and the people who continue to inhabit it.
Scientists say further exploration could reveal more.
For palaeontologists, the question is no longer simply what dinosaurs once lived in Africa. It is how much of Africa’s dinosaur history we have failed to find.
A continent that was once dismissed in parts of the scientific record as poorly sampled may simply be a continent whose rocks have not yet been searched deeply enough. The fossils are there. We are still learning where to look.
