A new dinosaur species identified in Brazil was named Dasosaurus tocantinensis and is among the three largest ever found in the country. The animal lived about 100 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period.
The fossils were discovered in 2021 in Davinópolis, in the southwest of Maranhão, during works for the construction of a railway terminal by Brado Logística. After three years of analysis, the researchers were able to formally classify and describe the species.
The research that described the dinosaur was led by professor Elver Mayer, from the Federal University of Vale do São Francisco (Univasf). The formal description was published in March 2026 in the scientific journal Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, establishing not only a new species but also a new dinosaur genus for Brazil.
The specialists classified the animal among sauropods, a group of herbivorous dinosaurs characterized by long necks and bulky build, which places it among the largest prehistoric reptiles ever discovered on Brazilian territory.
