Team members at Everything Dinosaur were sent an email asking whether titanosaurs roamed southern Africa during the Early Cretaceous. We were able to answer in the affirmative and sent a fact sheet all about the controversial titanosaur Malawisaurus. We even sent a picture of the Wild Safari Prehistoric World Malawisaurus model, to provide further information about this herbivorous dinosaur’s appearance.

Wild Safari Prehistoric World Malawisaurus
The Wild Safari Prehistoric World Malawisaurus dinosaur model.

We could have written about Karongasaurus (K. gittelmani) which is also known from Malawi, but as we had a Malawisaurus fact sheet to hand, it seemed sensible to provide information on Malawisaurus.

Malawisaurus dixeyi

Originally described nearly one hundred years ago (Haughton, 1928), this sauropod is known from the disarticulated remains of several individual animals excavated from Lower Cretaceous deposits exposed in northern Malawi (southern Africa). The taxonomic history of this sauropod is complicated, however, in 1993 following a review of the fossil material it was assigned its own genus Malawisaurus and although its placement within the Titanosauria clade is uncertain, it is widely regarded as a basal member of the Lithostrotia, a clade of derived titanosaurs that were geographically widespread and survived up until the end of the Cretaceous. The species name honours the British entomologist Frederick Augustus Dixey (1855 – 1935).

The Wild Safari Prehistoric World Malawisaurus model.
The Wild Safari Prehistoric World Malawisaurus dinosaur model. We sent this image in our email response as the Wild Safari Prehistoric World Malawisaurus is an excellent reconstruction of this sauropod from the Early Cretaceous of southern Africa.

Wild Safari Prehistoric World Malawisaurus

Introduced in 2018, the Wild Safari Prehistoric World Malawisaurus model tends to be one of the more difficult to obtain Safari Ltd sauropod figures, unless of course, you contact Everything Dinosaur.

To read Everything Dinosaur’s blog post about this Safari Ltd figure (2019): Reviewing the Wild Safari Prehistoric World Malawisaurus.

Although sometimes overlooked by other stockists who prefer to stock the better-known dinosaurs such as Triceratops and Stegosaurus, the Malawisaurus replica has proved popular with collectors who appreciate the fine details of this prehistoric animal figure. For example, in the scientific description of Malawisaurus it was noted that this dinosaur had osteoderms (dermal armour) embedded in its skin. This anatomical trait has been faithfully recreated by the design team at Safari Ltd.

To view the Safari Ltd range of prehistoric animal models in stock at Everything Dinosaur: Wild Safari Prehistoric World.