Scientists have reconstructed a giant predator dinosaur, Tameryraptor markgrafi, using newly discovered images of its fossils, lost during a World War II bombing.
Tameryraptor markgrafi, nicknamed 'thief from the beloved land,' was a fearsome dinosaur that roamed Egypt 95 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. Reaching a height of 33 feet, comparable to a telephone pole, this predator stands as one of the largest land carnivores ever discovered. German scientists unearthed the fossilized remains of this colossal creature in the Bahariya Oasis, located in Egypt 's Western Desert, back in 1914.
Palaeontologist Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach meticulously transported the bones to the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology in Munich. Initially classified as Carcharodontosaurus, meaning 'shark-toothed lizard,' this dinosaur met a tragic end during World War II when the museum was bombed on July 21, 1944, obliterating the precious specimen.For decades, the world knew of Tameryraptor markgrafi only through a handful of sketches and photographs, the physical evidence lost to history. The dinosaur was effectively 'forgotten,' its existence relegated to a few fleeting visual records. However, a recent discovery has breathed new life into the study of this ancient predator. Scientists have unearthed previously unknown images of the remains, allowing them to reconstruct Tameryraptor markgrafi for the first time.Maximilian Kellermann, a master's student at LMU Munich, and his team were astonished upon encountering these images. Their findings, published in PLOS ONE on Tuesday, reveal a dinosaur with symmetrical teeth, a nasal horn, and an enlarged frontal brain – features distinct from those of the Carcharodontosaurus found in Northwest Africa roughly 100 million years ago. 'The Egyptian dinosaur fossil depicted there differs significantly from more recent Carcharodontosaurus finds in Morocco,' Kellermann stated. 'Stromer’s original classification was thus incorrect. We identified a completely different, previously unknown predatory dinosaur species here and named it Tameryraptor markgrafi.'Beyond its resemblance to Carcharodontosaurs, researchers have discovered that Tameryraptor markgrafi is also related to a group of swift, agile predatory dinosaurs from Asia known as Metriacanthosaurs. This unexpected connection suggests that dinosaur life was far more diverse than previously imagined, leading to the identification of an entirely new species. Tameryraptor markgrafi represents an 'exceptional case,' a testament to the power of rediscovering forgotten history. The team utilized newly discovered photographs to piece together the formidable creature, offering a glimpse into a lost world dominated by these colossal predators. 'This work shows that it can be worthwhile for palaeontologists to dig not only in the ground but also in old archives,' added Oliver Rauhut, of the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology. 'However, a more comprehensive assessment of the Cretaceous predatory dinosaur fauna from the Bahariya Oasis would require the recovery of more fossils from the site.'
DINOSAURS FOSSILS EGYPT WORLD WAR II SCIENCE PALAEONTOLOGY RE-DISCOVERY
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