By Helen BriggsBBC News
29 January 2018
A new species of dinosaur found
in the Egyptian desert is shedding light on Africa's missing history of
dinosaurs.
Few fossils have been unearthed
from the last days of the dinosaurs, between 100 and 66 million years ago, on
the continent.
Scientists say the dinosaur,
which lived about 80 million years ago, is an "incredible discovery".
The giant plant-eater was the
length of a school bus and weighed about the same as an elephant.
It had a long neck and bony
plates embedded in its skin.
The dinosaur's fossilised remains
were unearthed during an expedition by palaeontologists from Mansoura
University in Egypt.
Named Mansourasaurus shahinae, the new species is regarded as a critical
discovery for science.
"It was thrilling for my
students to uncover bone after bone, as each new element we recovered helped to
reveal who this giant dinosaur was," said Dr Hesham Sallam of Mansoura
University, who led the research.
He said he expected the pace of
discovery to accelerate in the years to come.
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