Egypt desert fossils reveal five ancient sharks from the dinosaur era
Archaeologists digging in Egypt’s southwestern desert uncovered a Late Cretaceous shark graveyard within phosphate beds of the Duwi Formation, preserving a former tropical marine ecosystem and 14 fossilized teeth. The find includes five extinct lamniform sharks—Cretalamna cf. C. maroccana, Scapanorhynchus cf. S. raphiodon, Serratolamna cf. S. serrata, Squalicorax bassanii, and Squalicorax pristodontus—offering new insight into Africa’s ancient paleobiodiversity and past sea levels that were significantly higher than today.