Scientists discover terrifying predatory dinosaur in landmark find

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Africa.

Serously bloke, this massive carnivore is estimated to be around 10 metres long, and it's thought to be one of the biggest land-based flesh-eaters to have ever existed on our planet, with its cousins includin' the North African and South American Carcharodontosaurus, as well as heaps of other meat-eatin' dinosaurs from Asia.

The skeleton was unearthed in the Bahariya Oasis in Egypt, then stored with other Egyptian dinosaur fossils at the Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology in Munich.

The discovery of the Tameryraptor markgrafi is thanks to old photographs of the dinosaur's skeleton taken before 1944, as the fossil was destroyed during World War II.

A fair dinkum, back in the day, the fossil was chucked into the genus Carcharodontosaurus, which means shark-toothed lizard.

The bombing caused a significant amount of damage to the fossil collection from Egypt on display in Munich.

Just Dr Stromer's notes, some pictures of its bones and a handful of photos of the original skeletons were all that were left going.

Luckily, we've still got pics of the skeleton before it was smashed, which show its skull, backbone, and back legs.

"What we saw in the historical images stunned us all. The Egyptian dinosaur fossil shown there is completely different from more recent fossils of the Carcharodontosaurus discovered in Morocco," said Maximilian Kellermann, the study's lead author.

The original classification by Stromer was found to be incorrect. Dr Kellermann stated, "We've found a completely different, previously unknown predator dinosaur species here and we've named it Tameryraptor markgrafi.

Unpackin' the significance of the species name "Tameryraptor Markgraf", the "Tamery" bit comes from ancient Egypt, and "Markgrafi" is a tribute to Dr Stromer's fossil hunter, Richard Markgraf, who dug up the dinosaur's bones.

What were some of the dinosaur's key characteristics?

From the images, experts observed that the dinosaur had symmetrical teeth and a distinct nasal horn.

This new find suggests that there was a greater variety of dinosaurs in this particular part of the world than we initially thought.

"These findings show it's worth for palaeontologists to dig not just beneath their feet, but also through old files and records," said Oliver Rauhut, an author of the research.

“However, a more detailed analysis of the Cretaceous predatory dinosaur fauna from the Bahariya Oasis would need more fossils to be found at the site,” Dr Rauhut said.

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