A team of researchers led by an Alf Museum scientist has
announced the first new species of dinosaur from Madagascar in nearly a decade,
filling an important gap in the island's fossil record.
Dahalokely tokana (pronounced “dah-HAH-loo-KAY-lee
too-KAH-nah”) is estimated to have been between nine and 14 feet long, and it
lived around 90 million years ago. Dahalokely belongs to a group called
abelisauroids, carnivorous dinosaurs common to the southern continents. Up to
this point, no dinosaur remains from between 165 and 70 million years ago could
be identified to the species level in Madagascar–a 95 million year gap in the
fossil record. Dahalokely shortens this gap by 20 million years.