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| Tameryraptor Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, Cenomanian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N | |
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| Photograph of the holotype before its destruction in 1944 | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Clade: | Saurischia |
| Clade: | Theropoda |
| Clade: | †Carcharodontosauria |
| Family: | †Carcharodontosauridae |
| Genus: | †Tameryraptor Kellermann, Cuesta & Rauhut, 2025 |
| Species: | †T. markgrafi |
| Binomial name | |
| †Tameryraptor markgrafi Kellermann, Cuesta & Rauhut, 2025 | |
Tameryraptor ("thief from the beloved land") is an extinct genus of carcharodontosaurid theropod dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian age) Bahariya Formation of Egypt. The genus contains a single species, T. markgrafi. The holotype specimen was historically assigned to the genus Carcharodontosaurus, and it was destroyed in a bombing during the Second World War in 1944.
Discovery and naming
In early April of 1914, theropod fossils were found in marls near Ain Gedid, Egypt by Austro-Hungarian paleontologist Richard Markgraf. The sediments from this region derive from the Cenomanian-aged Bahariya Formation, one of many Cretaceous-aged sites of North Africa. Markgraf extensively collected dinosaur skeletons in Bahariya for his employer, German paleontologist Ernst Stromer of the Paläontologisches Museum München (Bavarian State Collection of Paleontology). This Egyptian skeleton (SNSB-BSPG 1922 X 46) consisted of a partial skull, including much of the braincase, teeth, three cervical vertebrae and a caudal vertebra, a partial pelvis, a manual ungual, both femora, and the left fibula.
Due to political tensions between the German Empire and then British-owned Egypt, this specimen took years to get to Germany. It was not until 1922 that the bones were transported to Munich where Stromer described them in 1931. Stromer recognized that the teeth of this specimen matched the characteristic dentition of those described by Depéret and Savornin in 1925 for their new species "Megalosaurus" saharicus. He found it necessary to erect a new genus for this species, Carcharodontosaurus. World War II broke out in 1939, leading to SNSB-BSPG 1922 X 46 and other Bahariya material to be destroyed during a British bombing raid on Munich during the night of April 24/25, 1944. An endocast was made that survived the war, making it the only remaining relic of the specimen.
In 2025, Kellermann, Cuesta & Rauhut described Tameryraptor markgrafi as a new genus and species of carcharodontosaurid theropods based on these fossil remains. Since the fossil remains were destroyed, they established their description based on an archival photograph. The generic name, Tameryraptor, combines Ta-mery, an informal ancient Egyptian name for the country—meaning "beloved land"—with the Latin word "raptor", meaning "thief". The specific name, markgrafi, honors Richard Markgraf, the discoverer of the remains.
Description
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Stromer estimated that the holotype of Tameryraptor (SNSB-BSPG 1922 X 46) would have been similar in size to the 8–9 metres (26–30 ft) long tyrannosaurid Gorgosaurus. Tameryraptor had a small horn-like protrusion upon its snout as its most distinguishing feature.
Paleocology
Tameryvenator lived in the Bahariya Formation, then a wetland environment. Abelisaurs would have shared its niche of terrestrial carnivore they preyed on other terrestrial fauna, while it would have avoid competing with the megalosauroid Spinosaurus due to the latter primarily being a piscivore of aquatic prey.
References
- Sereno, Paul C.; Dutheil, Didier B.; Iarochene, M.; Larsson, Hans C. E.; Lyon, Gabrielle H.; Magwene, Paul M.; Sidor, Christian A.; Varricchio, David J.; Wilson, Jeffrey A. (1996). "Predatory Dinosaurs from the Sahara and Late Cretaceous Faunal Differentiation" (PDF). Science. 272 (5264): 986–991. Bibcode:1996Sci...272..986S. doi:10.1126/science.272.5264.986. PMID 8662584. S2CID 39658297.
- ^ Ibrahim, Nizar; Sereno, Paul C.; Varricchio, David J.; Martill, David M.; Dutheil, Didier B.; Unwin, David M.; Baidder, Lahssen; Larsson, Hans C. E.; Zouhri, Samir; Kaoukaya, Abdelhadi (2020). "Geology and paleontology of the Upper Cretaceous Kem Kem Group of eastern Morocco". ZooKeys (928): 1–216. Bibcode:2020ZooK..928....1I. doi:10.3897/zookeys.928.47517. PMC 7188693. PMID 32362741.
- ^ Stromer, Ernst (1931). "Ergebnisse der Forschungsreisen Prof. E. Stromers in den Wüsten Ägyptens. II. Wirbeltier-Reste der Baharîjestufe (unterstes Cenoman). 10. Ein Skelett-Rest von Carcharodontosaurus nov. gen" (PDF). Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Abteilung. Neue Folge (in German). 9: 1–23.
- ^ Kellermann, Maximilian; Cuesta, Elena; Rauhut, Oliver W. M. (2025-01-14). "Re-evaluation of the Bahariya Formation carcharodontosaurid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) and its implications for allosauroid phylogeny". PLOS One. 20 (1): e0311096. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0311096. ISSN 1932-6203.
- Smith, Joshua B.; Lamanna, Matthew C.; Mayr, Helmut; Lacovara, Kenneth J. (2006). "New information regarding the holotype of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus Stromer, 1915". Journal of Paleontology. 80 (2): 400–406. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2006)080[0400:NIRTHO]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 130989487.
- "Nothdurft, William; Smith, Josh (2002). The Lost Dinosaurs of Egypt. New York: Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-58836-117-2.
- Salem, Belal S.; Lamanna, Matthew C.; O'Connor, Patrick M.; El-Qot, Gamal M.; Shaker, Fatma; Thabet, Wael A.; El-Sayed, Sanaa; Sallam, Hesham M. (2022). "First definitive record of Abelisauridae (Theropoda: Ceratosauria) from the Cretaceous Bahariya Formation, Bahariya Oasis, Western Desert of Egypt". Royal Society Open Science. 9 (6): 220106. Bibcode:2022RSOS....920106S. doi:10.1098/rsos.220106. PMC 9174736. PMID 35706658.