Scientists discover giant dinosaur species which was the length of two buses

Brazilian scientists have identified a new species of giant dinosaur, Dasosaurus tocantinensis.

The find reinforces the understanding that ancient land routes once connected South America, Africa, and Europe around 120 million years ago.

Described this month in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, the species ranks among Brazil's largest.

A femur measuring approximately 1.5 metres (59 inches) helped researchers to estimate that the animal stretched roughly 20 metres long – roughly the length of two standard buses.

It lived during the Early Cretaceous, when much of the world’s landmass was still fused together, forming the supercontinent Gondwana.

The fossils were unearthed in 2021 during infrastructure works near Davinopolis, Maranhao.

Research was led by Elver Mayer of the Federal University of the Sao Francisco Valley, with palaeontologist Leonardo Kerber of the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) contributing.

Mr Kerber said: "As the excavation progressed over the days, we began to see the evidence of that huge bone, which is the femur."

He added: "This indicates it was a very large dinosaur. Today we know Dasosaurus is among the biggest dinosaurs ever found in Brazil."

There are distinctive ridges and grooves on the dinosaur’s tail vertebrae and a pronounced bulge on the thigh bone, which have not been seen together in any other known dinosaur species.

UFSM analysis indicated that the species is the closest known relative of Garumbatitan morellensis, a dinosaur described in Spain.

Its lineage was European, and its ancestors likely dispersed into what is now South America roughly 130 million years ago, probably via northern Africa, before the Atlantic fully opened.

“Apart from expanding the known diversity of Early Cretaceous sauropods in the northern part of South America, this discovery highlights biogeographical connections with more northern Gondwanan areas, as well as Europe,” said Dr Max Langer from the Universidade de São Paulo.

The name Dasosaurus tocantinensis references the region where the dinosaur was discovered, including the Tocantins River, a major waterway whose eastern margins lie near the fossil site.