Paleontologists claim to have discovered a terrifying new species of dinosaur in pre-World War II photos

Paleontologists may have discovered a new species of dinosaur, even though its fossil no longer exists.

Researchers in Munich, Germany, claim to have identified a new species of large predatory dinosaur from modern Egypt in a surprising way. As detailed on January 14 He studies Published in the magazine One plusThe researchers studied the 95-million-year-old reptile in archival photographs from before World War II.

“It is assumed that the dinosaur fauna of North Africa was more diverse than we previously thought. This work shows that it may be useful for paleontologists to dig not only in the ground, but also in ancient archives,” explains Oliver Rauhut of the Bavarian State Collection of Archaeology. Paleontology and Geology, who participated in the study, in the Foundation’s report. statement.

In 1914, fossil collector Richard Markgraf excavated the original partial skeleton in the Bahariya Oasis in Egypt. He sent the remains to paleontologist Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach in Munich, where they were stored in the Bavarian State Collection of Paleontology and Geology at the Old Academy. Stromer designated Tyrannosaurus a member of the genus Carcharodontosaurusa group of huge carnivorous dinosaurs that lived in North Africa about 99 million to 94 million years ago.

Thirty years later, an Allied air raid on Munich bombed the Old Academy, destroying parts of the collection, including the so-called Old Museum. Carcharodontosaurus. The only remains were illustrations of the bones, some photographs, and Stromer’s notes. That is until paleontologist Maximilian Kellermann, a master’s student at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, discovered more archival photos of the 1914 fossil. The photos showed parts of the fossil’s skull, spine, and hind legs, revealing something unexpected.

“What we saw in the historical photos surprised us all. The Egyptian dinosaur fossil shown there is very different from the more recent Carcharodontosaurus finds in Morocco. “Stromer’s original classification was incorrect,” said Kellerman, who led the study. “Here we have identified and named a completely different, previously unknown species of predatory dinosaur Tamer raptor markography“.

“Tamri” is an ancient Egyptian name for Egypt and means “beloved land,” according to the study, and Raptor means “thief” in Latin, hence Tamiriraptor It means “the thief from the beloved land.” On the other hand, “Markgrafi” pays tribute to the fossil collector.

Together with Elena Cuesta, also from Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Rauhut and Kellermann concluded from the images that T. markgrafi It was about 33 feet (10 m) long, making it one of the largest carnivores known to have walked the Earth, and had a noteworthy nasal horn as well as symmetrical teeth. They also determined that giant reptiles were associated with North Africa Carcharodontosaursthe group of dinosaurs into which they were originally classified, as well as South America Carcharodontosaurs and Metricanthosaurs– A group of predatory dinosaurs from Asia.

“However, a more comprehensive assessment of the Cretaceous dinosaur predators at the Bahariya Oasis will require recovering more fossils from the site,” Rauhut added.

However, it is worth asking how precisely a new type of old black and white drawings and photographs can be defined. In the study, the researchers themselves admit that the International Committee on Zoological Nomenclature usually recommends against “assigning material that the author knows only from descriptions and illustrations, but has not studied directly.” The team was not even able to confirm the date of the fossil. However, “we believe this is an exceptional case where a naming law is warranted,” they said, noting formal exceptions within the recommendations.

Perhaps future excavations will one day find physical evidence of this T. markgrafi. For now, this might be another happy example of that Old photos lead scientists to a new discovery.