Mnyamawamtuka moyowamkia fossils recovered from East African Rift
System
Date: February 13, 2019
Source: Ohio University
A new
dinosaur that wears its "heart" on its tail provides new clues to how
ecosystems evolved on the African continent during the Cretaceous period
according to researchers at Ohio University.
The OHIO team
identified and named the new species of dinosaur in an article published this
week in PLOS ONE. The new dinosaur, the third now described from
southwestern Tanzania by the NSF-funded team, is yet another member of the
large, long-necked titanosaur sauropods. The partial skeleton was recovered
from Cretaceous-age (~100 million years ago) rocks exposed in a cliff surface
in the western branch of the great East African Rift System.
The new
dinosaur is named Mnyamawamtuka moyowamkia
(Mm-nya-ma-wah-mm-too-ka mm-oh-yo-wa-mm-key-ah), a name derived from Swahili
for "animal of the Mtuka (with) a heart-shaped tail" in reference to
the name of the riverbed (Mtuka) in which it was discovered and due to the
unique shape of its tail bones.
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