A joint research team from Cairo University and the New Valley University made the discovery in the city of Kharga in the country’s Western Desert.

Found as an almost complete turtle shell, the animal was a species that lived in rivers and fresh water.

Ahmed Abdel Sharif, dean of the faculty of science at Cairo University, said the turtle “lived in the age of dinosaurs,” and noted that information about the find had been published in the international Diversity magazine.

“The new discovery reflects the great importance of the Western Desert in Egypt, as it contains many vertebrate fossils which appeared in southern Egypt from other African countries, as Egypt had the appropriate climatic conditions for their existence.

“This scientific discovery marks the first of its kind in Egypt and North Africa,” Abdel Sharif added.

Qarni Ismail Abdel Gawad, assistant professor of vertebrate paleontology in Cairo University’s geology department, took part in the dig.

He said: “The fossil that was discovered has several characteristics that are not found in similar ones discovered elsewhere in the world. The team members worked together for three years to uncover this type of fossil.

“This new discovery bridges the historical gap between the different side-necked river turtles, which completely disappeared from the continent of Africa during the Campanian geological period — around 70 million years ago — belonging to the Upper Cretaceous era until the date of this discovery, to appear in southern Egypt.”