(NewsNation) — Scientists have announced the discovery of a new species of dinosaur after analyzing existing research material of a fossil specimen that was destroyed during World War II.
The identification of Tameryraptor markgrafi caps a winding saga that began more than a century ago, according to an article published in the online journal PLOS One earlier this month.
The creature’s fossilized bones were originally excavated in Egypt in 1914. In the 1930s, German paleontologist Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach said the bones derived from the existing genus of Carcharodontosaurus, a group of large carnivorous theropod dinosaurs.
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The physical artifacts, stored at a building in Munich, were destroyed during Allied bombing in July 1944.
Recently, a group of researchers examined previously unknown photographs of the lost specimen. They determined it was an entirely new type of dinosaur, Tameryraptor markgrafi, which was 30 feet long and had a “prominent nasal horn,” a news release said.
Skeletal remains of Tameryraptor markgrafi in the exhibition at the Alte Akademie. Taken at an unspecified time before the material was destroyed in April 1944, University Archives Tübingen (photographer unknown/University Archives Tübingen
“This work shows that it can be worthwhile for paleontologists to dig not only in the ground, but also in old archives,” Oliver Rauhut, one of the experts who evaluated the material, said in a prepared statement.
The proposed name of the new dinosaur refers in part to the ancient name for Egypt, “Tamery.” Experts say the sharp-toothed predator roamed North Africa about 95 million years ago.
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