Manda Formation

The Manda Formation (also known as the Manda Beds) is a Middle Triassic (Anisian? or Ladinian) or Late Triassic (earliest Carnian?) geologic formation in Tanzania. It preserves fossils of many terrestrial vertebrates from the Triassic, including some of the earliest dinosauromorpharchosaurs.

The formation was historically considered to be from the Anisian (first stage of the Middle Triassic), as it shares some fauna with the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone of South Africa. Many recent studies cast doubt on this age, suggesting that parts of it may be more recent, potentially as young the early Carnian (first stage of the Late Triassic). The dicynodontDinodontosaurus is known from this formation as well as formations in South America which are directly dated to the late Ladinian (last stage of the Middle Triassic) and early Carnian.