Thursday, July 17, 2025

Paleontologists Describe New Species of Predatory Dinosaur

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Paleontologists have described a brand new genus and species of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaur based mostly on depictions of the now-destroyed specimen from the Bahariya Formation in Egypt.

Life reconstruction of Tameryraptor markgrafi. Image credit: Joschua Knüppe.

Life reconstruction of Tameryraptor markgrafi. Picture credit score: Joschua Knüppe.

The newly-identified dinosaur lived in what’s now Africa through the Cretaceous interval, some 95 million years in the past.

Dubbed Tameryraptor markgrafi, the traditional species is a member of a gaggle of carnivorous theropod dinosaurs referred to as Carcharodontosauridae.

The dinosaur’s fossilized stays had been present in 1914 roughly 2 km (1.2 miles) from Ain Gedid on the Western foot of the Gebel Harra of the Bahariya Formation.

The fossils had been first described in 1931 by the German paleontologist Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach because the carcharodontosaurid species Carcharodontosaurus saharicus.

“In 1931, Stromer described the primary partial carcharodontosaurid skeleton from the Cretaceous of Northern Africa,” mentioned lead writer Dr. Maximilian Kellermann and his colleagues from the Staatliche Naturwissenschaftliche Sammlungen Bayerns-Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität.

“The specimen got here from the Bahariya Formation, from a locality within the northern a part of the Bahariya Oasis in Egypt and comprised cranium fragments (maxillae, nasals, partial braincase), vertebrae, partial pubis and ischium, femora, and a fibula.”

“Realizing widespread options of an related tooth, Stromer referred the specimen to Dryptosaurus saharicus, however proposed a brand new genus title, Carcharodontosaurus, for this species.”

In accordance with the authors, the unique specimen was destroyed through the World Conflict II.

The one surviving knowledge include Stromer’s descriptions and depictions of the specimen, together with an endocast of the braincase, at present housed in Berlin.

“What we noticed within the historic photos stunned us all,” Dr. Kellermann mentioned.

“The Egyptian dinosaur fossil depicted there differs considerably from newer Carcharodontosaurus finds in Morocco.”

“Stromer’s authentic classification was thus incorrect. We recognized a very totally different, beforehand unknown predatory dinosaur species right here and named it Tameryraptor markgrafi.”

Tameryraptor markgrafi was practically 10 m (33 toes) lengthy, had symmetrical enamel and a outstanding nasal horn.

“We discovered that the dinosaur was intently associated to the North African and South American carcharodontosaurs, in addition to to a gaggle of predatory dinosaurs from Asia, the metriacanthosaurs,” mentioned Dr. Oliver Rauhut, senior writer of the research.

“Presumably, the dinosaur fauna of North Africa was rather more various than we beforehand thought.”

“This work reveals that it may be worthwhile for paleontologists to dig not solely within the floor, but additionally in outdated archives.”

“Nonetheless, a extra complete evaluation of the Cretaceous predatory dinosaur fauna from the Bahariya Oasis would require the restoration of extra fossils from the location.”

The group’s work was revealed within the journal PLoS ONE.

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M. Kellermann et al. 2025. Re-evaluation of the Bahariya Formation carcharodontosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) and its implications for allosauroid phylogeny. PLoS ONE 20 (1): e0311096; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0311096



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