Tag Archive for 'Zimbabwe'

Illustration of Isityumzi mlomomde (lower right) and other Late Devonian freshwater ecosystem creatures including the early tetrapod Unzantsia. Image credit: Maggie Newman.

Triassic Lungfish Fossils Discovered in Zimbabwe

Aug 16, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of ancient lungfish from the Triassic period has been identified from fossilized tooth plate material found in the Mid-Zambezi Basin, Zimbabwe. Life...

An artist’s impression of Musankwa sanyatiensis, walking in Triassic shallow waters past a metoposaur. Image credit: Atashni Moopen / Sci.News.

New Sauropodomorph Dinosaur Unearthed in Zimbabwe

May 30, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of massopodan sauropodomorph dinosaur has been identified form the fossilized remains found on the shoreline of Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe. An...

The new Zimbabwean assemblage is on the same paleolatitudinal climatic belt as other Carnian dinosaur-bearing assemblages and has a similar taxonomic composition: (a) the northern Zimbabwean locality geographically links other Carnian dinosaurian localities across southern Pangaea; (b) the new Zimbabwean locality is the oldest definitive dinosaurian locality in Africa, coeval with Carnian dinosaur localities from other parts of the world; (c) summary stratigraphic column of the Pebbly Arkose Formation at the type locality in Zimbabwe showing the records of Mbiresaurus raathi (red), a herrerasaurid dinosaur (yellow), a traversodontid cynodont (blue), a hyperodapedontine rhynchosaur (orange) and an aetosaur (green); (d) representative fossils from the Pebbly Arkose Formation, including (1) aetosaur paramedian osteoderm (dorsal view), (2) herrerasaurid dinosaur coracoid (lateral view), (3) cynodont dentary (lateral view) and (4) hyperodapedontine rhynchosaur maxilla (occlusal view). Scale bars - 1 cm (fossils 1, 3 and 4) and 5 cm (fossil 2). Image credit: Griffin et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-05133-x.

Climatic Barriers Controlled Dispersal of Earliest Dinosaurs, New Theory Says

Sep 1, 2022 by News Staff

In addition to the discovery of Mbiresaurus raathi, Africa’s oldest known dinosaur species, Yale University paleontologist Christopher Griffin and his...

Life reconstruction of Mbiresaurus raathi (foreground) with the rest of the Zimbabwean animal assemblage in the background: two rhynchosaurs (front right), an aetosaur (left), and a herrerasaurid dinosaur chasing a cynodont (back right). Image credit: Andrey Atuchin.

Meet Mbiresaurus raathi, Africa’s Oldest Known Dinosaur

Sep 1, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Mbiresaurus raathi lived in what is now Zimbabwe during the Carnian age of the Triassic period, approximately 230 million years ago. Life reconstruction...