Angola is central to understanding the evolutionary history of this group of animals. Currenty we are concentrating on the final chapters of their history, but fortunately, Angola has older rocks too, and therefore allows access to several other chapters in the history of these fascinating animals. We have thus far discovered a number of forms, including one called Tuarangisaurus. This taxon is very interesting because it appears to conserve morphology that corresponds to juvenile plesiosaurs of other taxa. Also, from a biogeographic perspective, this taxon appears to be restricted to the southern hemisphere, but is widespread, occurring in three different continents: South America (Argentina), Oceania (New Zealand) and now Africa ( Angola, see summary in Araújo et al. 2010).
Sauropod ping...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO1bn1qKu7A
Aaron Neville.
Drat, I thought they had a live one.
In this undated photo supplied by the PaleoAngola Project, researcher Octavio Mateus analyses part of a fossilized dinosaur. Paleontologists say it is from a new dinosaur, citing unique skeletal characteristics.