Dinosaur fossils are of ‘terrifying’ new species

FOSSILS unearthed in Africa have been identified as two new species of carnivorous dinosaur, a British university announced yesterday.

The remains of the 110-million-year-old animals, one of which would have made “a terrifying adversary”, were found in the Sahara Desert and have been identified by Bristol University student Steve Brusatte and his former professor, Dr Paul Serano.

University of Chicago research adviser, renowned palaeontologist and dinosaur hunter Dr Serano discovered the dinosaurs during a dig in 2000.

Dr Serano and Mr Brusatte worked together on identifying the fossils and have published their findings this week in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

One species has been named as short-snouted Kryptops Palaios — meaning “old hidden face” — so called for the horny covering on its snout. About 8m (25ft) in length, Kryptops had short, armoured jaws and small teeth.

The second discovery is of a similar-sized contemporary, Eocarcharia Dinops — meaning “fierce-eyed dawn shark” — so called for its blade-shaped teeth and prominent bony eyebrow.

Unlike Kryptops, its teeth were more suited to attacking live prey and severing body parts. The journal report said Eocarcharia would have made a terrifying adversary. A swollen bony brow over its eye gave it a menacing appearance and may have been used as a battering ram against rivals. Mr Brusatte, who is studying for an MSc in earth sciences at Bristol, said: “For those of us who work on the dinosaurs of the southern continents, uncovering these fossils is like finding a Neanderthal relative to our own species.

“They are the earliest records of both major carnivore groups that would go on to dominate Africa, South America, and India during the next 50 million years — the Cretaceous period.”

The fossils, found in the Sahara on an expedition led by Dr Serano, include the jaw bone, vertebrae and ribs of Kryptops and cranial bones and teeth of Eocarcharia.