Giant Brazilian sauropod fossil reveals 120-million-year Europe–South America link

A newly identified about 20-meter-long sauropod, Dasosaurus tocantinensis, from a construction site in Maranhão, Brazil, lived around 120 million years ago. Its closest known relative was in Spain, indicating a broader Europe–South America connection and suggesting ancestors crossed Africa to South America as Gondwana broke apart. The nearly complete skeleton (tail, a 1.5-meter femur, ribs, and limb bones) provides clues to sauropod growth and biogeography. The discovery, led by researchers including Mayer and Langer, is published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, and underscores how construction projects can reveal fossils and the need for preservation.