Giant 20-metre dinosaur unearthed at Brazilian construction site links South America to Europe

During excavation for a road-rail terminal in Davinópolis, Maranhão, workers uncovered a massive sauropod skeleton later named Dasosaurus tocantinensis, measuring roughly 20 metres and dating to the Lower-Upper Cretaceous transition about 120 million years ago. The specimen, recovered from about eight metres depth, includes tail vertebrae, a 1.5-metre femur, ribs and limb bones, making it unusually complete for its group.

Analysis by a team including Elver Luiz Mayer, Max Langer, Tito Aureliano and Aline Ghilardi indicates a close evolutionary relationship with a Spanish titanosauriform, implying a migration route through North Africa when the continents were still connected within Gondwana. The fossil is now housed at the State Center for Natural History and Archaeology Research in São Luís. The discovery highlights both the potential of construction-driven exposures for paleontology and the need for stronger monitoring of such sites. Researchers are negotiating further access to the site to uncover additional material.