Bahariasaurus
"Bahariya lizard"
- Lived
- 113 to 94 million years ago, Early Cretaceous to Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods
- Found in
- Egypt and Niger
- Named by
- Stromer 1934
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
105 million years ago
Habitat
In Egypt, it inhabited a coastal landscape of waterways and swamps. Paralititan, Spinosaurus and Aegyptosaurus also lived there.
Field notes
About Bahariasaurus
What it was like
Bahariasaurus was a large two-legged meat eater, but little is known about its shape. Its original bones were destroyed by wartime bombing, so scientists work from old descriptions and drawings.
It was clearly one of the big hunters of its time, but its exact place among the theropods is still debated.
Its world
It lived about 113 to 94 million years ago, in the Cretaceous, in what are now Egypt and Niger. In Egypt it shared a world of rivers and swamps with Spinosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus and the giant titanosaur Paralititan.
How it was found
Stromer named Bahariasaurus in 1934 from bones found in a desert oasis in Egypt. Some later bones from Niger have been assigned to it.
Field gallery
More views of Bahariasaurus
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
A rock formation can hold fossils laid down millions of years apart, so not every animal here met Bahariasaurus.
The evidence
The science behind Bahariasaurus
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The original specimen included back vertebrae, part of the backbone above the hips and incomplete pelvic bones.
- The bones were destroyed during wartime bombing, leaving descriptions and illustrations.
Borrowed from relatives
- Its missing head and much of its body are restored by comparison with other large theropods, including the proposed relative Deltadromeus.
Still unknown
- Its exact place in the theropod family tree.
- Whether Deltadromeus belongs to the same genus.
- The shape of its head and the covering of its body.
Discovery timeline
- 1934Named itStromer
- 2001Same rocksSmith et al.
- 2025Family treeCau & Paterna
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Bahariasaurus
Named it
Named Bahariasaurus from fragmentary backbone and pelvic bones found in Egypt, and described other bones provisionally assigned to it.
Ergebnisse der Forschungsreisen Prof. E. Stromers in den Wüsten Ägyptens. II. Wirbeltierreste der Baharîje-Stufe (unterstes Cenoman). 13. Dinosauria [Results of the expeditions of Professor E. Stromer in the Egyptian deserts. II. Vertebrate animal remains from the Baharîje bed (lowest Cenomanian). 13. Dinosauria]. Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Abteilung, Neue Folge 22: 1-79
No link available
Same rocks
Described Paralititan from coastal swamp deposits in Egypt, revealing a wet habitat in the rocks that also produced Bahariasaurus.
A Giant Sauropod Dinosaur from an Upper Cretaceous Mangrove Deposit in Egypt. Science 292: 1704-1706
Read the paper : A Giant Sauropod Dinosaur from an Upper Cretaceous Mangrove Deposit in Egypt (opens in a new tab)Family tree
Reexamined the lost bones through published accounts and proposed that Bahariasaurus and Deltadromeus belong to the same genus within the abelisauroid branch.
Beyond the Stromer’s Riddle: the impact of lumping and splitting hypotheses on the systematics of the giant predatory dinosaurs from northern Africa. Italian Journal of Geosciences 144: 162-185
Read the paper : Beyond the Stromer’s Riddle: the impact of lumping and splitting hypotheses on the systematics of the giant predatory dinosaurs from northern Africa (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Avetheropoda
Sources: Wikidata