Small, but not very young.
Scientists in Zimbabwe announced Thursday (September 1) the discovery of the remains of Africa's oldest dinosaur, which dates back to around 230 million years ago.
Named Mbiresaurus raathi, this dinosaur was only about a meter tall, with a long tail and weighed up to 30 kg, according to the international team of paleontologists who made the discovery.
"It ran on two legs and had a fairly small head," said Christopher Griffin, the scientist who unearthed the first bone.
It is probably an omnivore that fed on plants, small animals and insects.
The dinosaur belongs to the sauropodomorph species, the same lineage as that of the giant long-necked dinosaurs, the Yale University researcher detailed.
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The skeleton was found during two expeditions in 2017 and 2019 by a team of researchers from Zimbabwe, Zambia and the United States, but the findings were not published in the journal Nature until Wednesday.
"I dug out the whole femur and knew then that it was a dinosaur and that I had the oldest known dinosaur fossil in Africa," said Christopher Griffin, who was then a doctoral student at Virginia Tech University.
An unprecedented discovery on the African continent
Dinosaur remains from the same era had previously only been found in South America and India.
Paleontologists chose Zimbabwe to dig after calculating that when all the continents were connected into a single landmass known as Pangea, it was at about the same latitude as earlier discoveries made in North America. Modern South.
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The dinosaur is named after the Mbire district in northeastern Zimbabwe, where the skeleton was found, and paleontologist Michael Raath, who first reported fossils from this area.
“Mbiresaurus raathi is remarkably similar to some dinosaurs of the same age found in Brazil and Argentina, which reinforces the fact that South America and Africa were part of a continuous landmass,” commented Max Langer, from from the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil.
Other specimens have been discovered in this area, all of which have been deposited in the Zimbabwe Museum of Natural History in the country's second largest city, Bulawayo.
“The discovery of Mbiresaurus is exciting and special for Zimbabwe and the entire paleontological field,” said museum curator Michel Zondo.
“The fact that the Mbiresaurus skeleton is nearly complete makes it perfect reference material for further discoveries,” he added.
