Plesiosaur fossils found in Egypt's western desert

Remains of sea-dwelling creature discovered by same team of Egyptian paleontologists who found fossils of freshwater turtles

Palaeontologists from Egypt's New Valley University on a dig during which they unearthed the remains of a plesiosaurus. Photo: New Valley University

Egyptian palaeontologists have discovered fossils from a 65-million-year-old marine reptile in the southern province of New Valley, where several other prehistoric fossils have been unearthed.

The discovery consisted of eight vertebrae from the abdominal area of a plesiosaur, the president of New Valley University, Abdel Aziz Tantawy, told The National.

A large Mesozoic-era reptile that was a contemporary of dinosaurs, the plesiosaurs first appeared more than 200 million years ago and went extinct 65 million years ago.

The bones were found embedded in layers of phosphate rock in the western part of the city of Dakhla, an oasis where a large portion of the province’s sparse population lives.

An illustration of an elasmosaurus shows the round body, long neck and four flipper-like appendages typical of plesiosaurs. Getty

A young man from the village of Al Hindaw, west of Dakhla, discovered the remains by accident while planting trees in the desert, Dr Tantawy said.

The plesiosaurs, whose fossils have also been found in the Moroccan Sahara desert where a prehistoric river network once ran, are believed to have become extinct towards the end of the Cretaceous period, said Gebeily Aboul Kheir, director of New Valley University’s vertebrate palaeontology centre.

Because of its small lungs, the plesiosaurus typically lived in shallow seas and rivers, he said. It was characterised by its long neck, four long flippers and round body, with adults typically reaching a length of up to 12 metres.

The length, weight and maturity of the animal whose remains were found in Dakhla Oasis was not immediately discernible from the eight vertebrae discovered, Mr Aboul Kheir said.

“Our first goal is to conduct more digs to find the rest of the animal; we expect that more of its bones will be found in the surrounding area. But our digs will have to wait until summer has passed,” he said.

Temperatures in Egypt’s western desert reach 41ºC at the height of summer, making the long treks through the desert unfeasible, he said.

We expect to put out a research paper a year after all the bones have been assembled

Gebeily Aboul Kheir,
director, New Valley University vertebrate palaeontology centre

After they have collected as many parts of the plesiosaurus as they can find, they will study them and publish their findings.

“We expect to put out a research paper a year after all the bones have been assembled,” Mr Aboul Kheir said.

Palaeontologists from the university earlier discovered the remains of fifty 70-million-year-old freshwater turtles in the area. Details of that discovery, which took place in 2021, was published in a scientific journal in February.

At 440,000 square kilometres, New Valley is the country’s largest province. It is unique in that it is made up of land formations dating back to the Cretaceous period that have remained the same for millions of years because of the area’s dry climate.

Palaeontologists from Egypt's New Valley University on a dig unearthed the remains of a plesiosaur, a marine reptile that went extinct 65 million years ago. Photo: New Valley University

The turtles were the first of their species to be discovered and the team gave them the name Khargachelys cairoensis, after the cities of Kharga, the largest in New Valley province, and Cairo, as the palaeontologists who made the discovery come from both cities.

Following repeated discoveries of prehistoric fossils in the Western desert, including the fossil of a large, carnivorous dinosaur believed to have lived more than 98 million years ago, the university’s palaeontology centre has hatched an ambitious plan to display the fossils in an open-air museum where they were discovered, but this will require state support and funding.