The first fossils referred to a spinosaurid were discovered in 1912 at the Bahariya Formation in Egypt. Consisting of vertebrae, skull fragments, and teeth, these remains became the holotype specimen of the new genus and species "Spinosaurus aegyptiacus" in 1915, when they were described by German paleontologist Ernst Stromer. The dinosaur's name meant "Egyptian spine lizard", in reference to the unusually long neural spines not seen previously in any other theropod. In April 1944, the holotype of "S. aegyptiacus" was destroyed during an allied bombing raid in World War II. In 1934, Stromer referred a partial skeleton also from the Bahariya Formation to a new species of "Spinosaurus", this specimen has since been alternatively assigned to another African spinosaurid, "Sigilmassasaurus."