The fossil, which is about 235 million years old, was found in 1997 in Madagascar by a team of researchers led by the Museum's Frick Curator of Fossil Mammals John Flynn, who worked at the Field Museum at the time, in close collaboration with scientists and students at the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar.
"This discovery documents the importance of the southern hemisphere fossil record in understanding this important period of the Triassic, when dinosaurs were first appearing," Flynn said. "This time interval is really poorly known elsewhere in the world, showing the tremendous value of our quarter-century-long Madagascar-U.S. research and education partnership to advancing scientific knowledge."