The long-necked creature, called Mansourasaurus shahinae, strolled the plains of the continent about 80million years ago.
Scientists from Mansoura University discovered its bones int he Sahara Desert in Egypt.
Fossil fragments included parts of the mammoth beast’s skull, lower jaw, neck and back verterbrae, ribs, shoulders and more.
But the true importance of the find is that it fills a gap in our understanding of the Late Cretaceous period (about 100million to 66million years ago).
Before that period, all of the world’s continents were locked together in a gigantic land mass known as Pangaea.
When the dinosaur was roaming the Earth, Pangaea was starting to break apart.
Some experts reached the conclusion it meant the animals were isolated to Africa during that time.
The discovery of Mansourasaurus shahinae proves otherwise, as its bone features were found to be more closely related to European and Asian dinosaurs than others in Africa or South America.
“Africa’s last dinosaurs weren’t completely isolated, contrary to what some have proposed in the past,” lead contributing author on the study Eric Gorscak explained.
“There were still connections to Europe.
“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?”
