The dinosaur’s fossilized remains were found in 1914 from the Bahariya Formation from a locality in the northern part of the Bahariya Oasis in Egypt. They were first described in 1931 by the German paleontologist Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach, who mistakenly dubbed the species the Carcharodontosaurus saharicus.

SNSB and LMU Paleontologists have identified a new species of predatory dinosaur from the Cretaceous period in North Africa, about 95 million years old. What makes this discovery so special is that the original fossil from Egypt was completely destroyed 80 years ago,

The fossil, destroyed in an air raid 80 years ago, had faded from memory until a paleontologist found archival images.

Old photos rewrite the story of an Egyptian dinosaur lost to World War II. 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. Credit: Photographer Unknown/Public Domain.

A new species of predatory dinosaur that lived in North Africa 95 million years ago has been identified—some 80 years after the only specimen was destroyed in a World War II bombing raid. Researchers from Germany discovered previously unknown photos of the lost specimen that allowed them to reassess the original classification of the species.

Scientists have unveiled a giant horned dinosaur from Egypt called Tameryraptor markgrafi after discovering lost photos of fossils destroyed in WWII.