A new dinosaur of titanic proportions unearthed in the Egyptian desert could help scientists shed light on the history of dinosaurs in Africa.
The find, named Mansourasaurus shahinae and described in a paper published Monday in the journal Nature, “is the most completely preserved land-living vertebrate” from the end of the Cretaceous Period ever found on mainland Africa, the study’s authors write. Researchers said that the sauropod, a long-necked herbivore, was 80 million years old, 33 feet long, and weighed as much as 5.5 tons, according to Reuters.
The remains, which included parts of the skull, jaw, shoulder, and forelimb, were discovered during an expedition from Egypt’s Mansoura University in 2013.
Scientists haile…