Discovery of 20-meter Brazilian sauropod hints at an ancient Europe-to-South America highway

A new long-necked sauropod, Dasosaurus tocantinensis, from Maranhão, Brazil, dating to about 120 million years ago, was found eight meters underground at a construction site; at roughly 20 meters long, it is the largest known Brazilian dinosaur from the region and is closest to a Spanish species, Garumbatitan morellensis, implying a European lineage that dispersed to South America via Africa around 140–120 million years ago and suggesting earlier intercontinental faunal exchange; the discovery expands northeastern Brazil’s dinosaur record and highlights construction sites as windows into ancient ecosystems, though dating uncertainties remain and researchers plan further excavations with the site owner.