Paleontologists uncover a new ‘Spinosaurus’ species by following a clue from a decades-old book into the Sahara Desert

The hunt for a mythicized fossil hot spot took a team of researchers on a journey through the Sahara Desert.

By: Paul C. Sereno, University of Chicago, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: March 16, 2026

Words: 1,447

Last Updated: 4 months, 3 weeks ago

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By Paul C. Sereno, University of Chicago

My fixation on a small, desolate locale in the heart of the Sahara Desert started with a single line buried in a 630-page tome in French about the rocks of the central Sahara: “Dent de Carcharodontosaurus saharicus Depéret,” which translates to “tooth of Carcharodontosaurus saharicus Depéret” – “Depéret” refers to the scientist who originally named the species.

The intrepid French geologist Hugues Faure (1928-2003) had collected one …

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