“Hell Heron” Spinosaurus mirabilis: Giant Sword-Crested Predator Unearthed in Niger’s Sahara – First New Spinosaurus Species in Over a Century

In a Science paper published February 19, 2026, paleontologist Paul Sereno and a 20-person University of Chicago team announced Spinosaurus mirabilis—a striking new spinosaurid from 95-million-year-old river deposits in central Niger’s Sahara. The fossils, recovered from the remote Jenguebi locality in the Farak Formation, include a spectacular scimitar-shaped cranial crest rising far above the skull roof, plus interlocking teeth and postcranial elements.

This is only the second valid Spinosaurus species since S. aegyptiacus was named in 1915. “Mirabilis” (Latin for “astonishing”) perfectly captures the towering midline ornament, which in life was likely sheathed in keratin for visual display—much like a helmeted guinea fowl. The crest, the tallest of any theropod, underscores spinosaurids’ stepwise evolutionary radiation: elongate fish-snaring skulls in the Jurᴀssic, dominance around the Tethys in the Early Cretaceous, and finally giant semi-aquatic ambush predators in Late Cretaceous North Africa.

Unlike earlier aquatic-swimmer models, S. mirabilis was a wading shoreline hunter in an inland riparian habitat, sharing the landscape with long-necked sauropods. Its discovery caps three discrete phases of spinosaurid evolution and reinforces a semi-aquatic lifestyle supported by bone histology and ᴀssociated fluvial sediments.

“This find rewrites the final chapter of spinosaurid history,” Sereno noted. The “hell heron”—as Vietnamese media dubbed it—proves these sail-backed giants were far more diverse and display-oriented than previously imagined. After a century, the Sahara has delivered another game-changing dinosaur.