CAIRO — An Egyptian team of paleontologists has discovered fossils of a dinosaur that lived 98 million years ago in the Bahariya Oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt.

Egypt’s Mansoura University announced June 8 that a team from its Vertebrate Paleontology Center made the discovery in the Bahariya Oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt. The discovery was featured in England’s Royal Society Publishing.

A June 8 statement by the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research read, “The dinosaur is very similar to the famous T-Rex,” explaining, “In one of the joint field trips between the Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology Center and the scientists of the Ministry of Environment in the Bahariya Oasis, the team found a fossil of a vertebra covered with solid deposits of iron and sand. Following a detailed anatomical study that took several years, it turned out to be the 10th cervical vertebra of a large carnivorous dinosaur. It has enough anatomical characteristics to indicate that it belongs to a family of dinosaurs called Abelisauridae or Abelisaurid dinosaurs."

The statement continued, “The origin of the name Abel is in honor of Roberto Abel, the Argentinian scientist who discovered the first fossils of this species. These dinosaurs are distinguished by their terrifying shape and frightening skull, and sharp teeth coming out of their jaws similar to knife blades, while their hind feet have huge muscles to help them attack. Despite the shortness of their front limbs, these dinosaurs were among the fiercest species.”