All specimens were collected by F. P. Mennell in 1922 at the Mizimbazi River near Tanga City, northeastern Tanzania.
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Tangasaurus was described and named by Sidney H. Haughton in 1924 who found it to be a probable diapsid reptile that, because of the long, powerful, flattened tail, had become adapted for an aquatic existence.
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Constanze Bickelmann, Johannes Müller and Robert R. Reisz (2009) redescribed Acerosodontosaurus and suggested an aquatic lifestyle for it.