Tanzanian fossil discovery may reshape early dinosaur timeline

Researchers have identified a new species of tusked herbivore, Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda, from fossils found in Tanzania. The animal was a dicynodont, a group of beaked synapsids more closely related to mammals than to dinosaurs, which lived approximately 240 million years ago during the Triassic Period.

The discovery is significant because the Dinodontosaurus genus was previously known only from South America. This finding establishes a geographic link between Tanzanian fossil beds and those in South America, suggesting that the Tanzanian deposits are younger than previously estimated.

This revised dating has implications for the timeline of dinosaur evolution. It may impact the classification of controversial fossils found in the same Tanzanian geological units, which were previously proposed as some of the earliest known dinosaurs.