A new sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Pebbly Arkose Formation (Upper Triassic: Norian) of Kariba, Zimbabwe

The Upper Triassic Pebbly Arkose Formation of the Mid-Zambezi Basin, Zimbabwe is yielding important evidence of a diverse terrestrial/freshwater biome. A partial, associated skeleton collected from the ‘Musango Archosaur Site’, on the southern margin of Lake Kariba, represents a new taxon of sauropodomorph, Musango matusadonaensis. The specimen consists of vertebrae, pectoral and pelvic girdle elements, and partial fore- and hind limbs. It possesses numerous autapomorphies and is clearly distinct from the sympatric Musankwa sanyatiensis. Phylogenetic analysis recovers Musango and Musankwa in a sister-taxon relationship within the plateosaurian sauropodomorph clade Unaysauridae, although support for this topology is weak. Osteohistological evidence and body mass estimation indicate that the holotype individual of Musango is a small-bodied sub-adult or adult, which had reached at least eight years of age, and whose growth rate was decelerating at the time of death. Contrary to previous suggestions that there were close faunal and biostratigraphical links between the Late Triassic vertebrate faunas of Zimbabwe and South Africa, currently no dinosaur taxa are shared between the Triassic-aged sedimentary units in Zimbabwe and those of the main Karoo Basin. https://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B02E8F4F-D5E7-4DA6-8447-1209131ADA8D