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Archaeologists have discovered the fossilised remains of a new dinosaur species in the Saharan Desert in Egypt.

The species, which the researchers from Mansoura University have named Mansourasaurus shahinae, dates back to the Late Cretaceous period, from 100 to 66 million years ago.

The Mansourasaurus was around the same length as a school bus, with a long neck and bony plates under its skin.

The finding is especially exciting because dinosaur remains in Africa are few and far between.

(Image: Andrew McAfee, Carnegie Museum of Natural History)

Dr Eric Gorscak, a contributing author of the study, said: “Africa remains a giant question mark in terms of land-dwelling animals at the end of the Age of Dinosaurs.

“Mansourasaurus helps us address longstanding questions about Africa's fossil record and paleobiology - what animals were living there, and to what other species were these animals most closely related?"

The lack of a Late Cretaceous fossils in Africa is frustrating for paleontologists since, at that time, the continents were undergoing massive geological and geographic changes.

(Image: Hesham Sallam, Mansoura University)

During the Triassic and Jurassic periods, all the continents were joined together, but during the Cretaceous Period the continents started to split apart.

Until now, it hasn’t been clear how Africa was connected to other landmasses during this time - but the Mansourasaurus finding helps to shed some light on this.

An analysis of the bones revealed that Mansourasaurus is more closely related to dinosaurs from Europe and Asia than it is to those in Africa or in South America.

This suggests that at least some dinosaurs could move between Africa and Europe.

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Dr Gorscak said: ”Africa's last dinosaurs weren't completely isolated, contrary to what some have proposed in the past. There were still connections to Europe.”

The researchers now hope to investigate the site where the Mansourasaurus was found further in the hopes of findings even more dinosaur remains.

Dr Hesham Sallam, lead author of the study, said: “What's exciting is that our team is just getting started.

“Now that we have a group of well-trained vertebrate paleontologists here in Egypt, with easy access to important fossil sites, we expect the pace of discovery to accelerate in the years to come.”