A newly identified fossil from Tanzania is prompting paleontologists to reconsider the early dinosaur timeline. The animal, named Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda, is dated to roughly 240 million years ago.
The species belongs to a group that had previously been documented only in South America. Its presence in Tanzania links fossil deposits on the two continents, suggesting a wider geographic distribution for this lineage than earlier evidence indicated.
The discovery comes from a single report, and no conflicting interpretations are noted in the source. Still, the find adds a new data point to debates about how early dinosaurs and their relatives dispersed across ancient landmasses.