Paleontologists have made an incredible discovery of a new species of predatory dinosaur that lived 95 million years ago in North Africa during the Cretaceous period.
What makes this discovery remarkable is that the original fossil, found in Egypt, was destroyed over 80 years ago during World War II.
The findings were made possible by analyzing old photographs of the fossil and are published in the journal PLOS ONE.
The dinosaur’s story begins in 1914 when German paleontologist Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach uncovered the skeleton in the Bahariya Oasis of Egypt.
The fossil was then sent to Munich, Germany, where it was stored in the Bavarian State Collection for Paleontology and Geology. Stromer identified the dinosaur as part of the Carcharodontosaurus genus, often called the “shark-toothed lizard.”
At around 10 meters long, it was one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs, comparable in size to the famous Tyrannosaurus rex.
Unfortunately, the fossil met a tragic fate on July 21, 1944, when an air raid destroyed the Old Academy building in Munich, where the collection was stored. The fossil, along with many other Egyptian dinosaur specimens, was lost forever.
Only a few notes, illustrations, and photographs from Stromer’s records remained.
For decades, little was known about this Egyptian predator. That changed when Maximilian Kellermann, a master’s student at LMU Munich, uncovered previously unknown photographs of the original fossil.
These photos showed parts of the skull, spine, and hind limbs of the dinosaur before its destruction. Kellermann, along with dinosaur expert Prof. Oliver Rauhut and Dr. Elena Cuesta, analyzed the images and made a surprising discovery.
The fossil looked very different from Carcharodontosaurus specimens found more recently in Morocco.
This led the researchers to conclude that Stromer’s original classification was incorrect. Instead, they identified the remains as belonging to an entirely new species of predatory dinosaur, which they named Tameryraptor markgrafi.
The name Tameryraptor honors the ancient Egyptian name for their land, “Tamery,” meaning “the promised land.” The species name also pays tribute to Richard Markgraf, the fossil collector who unearthed the dinosaur.
Tameryraptor markgrafi was about 10 meters long, had symmetrical teeth, and a prominent nasal horn. It was closely related to other large carnivorous dinosaurs from North Africa, South America, and Asia, highlighting the diversity of predatory dinosaurs during that time.
“This discovery shows that North Africa’s dinosaur population was much more diverse than we thought,” said Prof. Rauhut. “It’s also a great example of how valuable old records and photographs can be to paleontology.”
While this breakthrough sheds light on Tameryraptor, researchers say more fossils from the Bahariya Oasis are needed to fully understand the region’s ancient ecosystem. Still, this study highlights the importance of not only digging in the ground for fossils but also exploring historical archives to uncover lost treasures of the past.
Source: KSR.
