Jonah Choiniere and Paul Barrett announce the naming of Musango matusadonaensis, a new dinosaur species discovered in Zimbabwe
An international team of scientists has identified a new dinosaur species, Musango matusadonaensis, discovered on the shores of Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe. The discovery was made in 2018 and the research was published in July. Musango is a bipedal early relative of long-necked dinosaurs, known as a sauropodomorph, and lived approximately 210 million years ago during the late Triassic period. Jonah Choiniere, a professor of comparative biology at South Africa's University of the Witwatersrand, led the expedition and co-authored the study. Paul Barrett, the head of fossil vertebrates at the British Natural History Museum, served as the study's lead author. The specimen was approximately 4.5 meters long and weighed 222 kilograms when it died at the age of eight. While the team excavated bones from the spine, ribs, arms, legs, and feet, the skull was not found. The team utilized a riverboat as a laboratoy and smaller pontoon boats to navigate the shoreline. The name Musango translates to "living in the bush" in the local Shona language. The team plans to return to Lake Kariba in early 2027 to continue the research.