Asilisaurus ɑː-siːliː-SORRUHS

Asilisaurus ( ); from Swahili, asili (“ancestor” or “foundation”), and Greek, σαυρος (sauros, “lizard”) is an extinct genus of silesaurid archosaur. The type species is Asilisaurus kongwe. Asilisaurus fossils were uncovered in the Manda Beds of Tanzania, a formation typically dated to the Anisian stage of the Middle Triassic; however, some authors assert that the formation may be Ladinian or early Carnian instead. If it truly is Anisian, Asilisaurus would be one of the oldest known members of the Avemetatarsalia (animals on the dinosaur/pterosaur side of the archosaurian family tree). Asilisaurus was the first (ostensibly) non-dinosaur dinosauromorph recovered from Africa. Its discovery provides evidence for a rapid diversification of avemetatarsalians during the Middle Triassic, simultaneous with the diversification of pseudosuchians (crocodylian-line archosaurs).