Egyptian paleontologist Sanaa El-Sayed, shown here in the field, is the first woman vertebrate paleontologist from the Middle East to be first author on a paper published internationally — and her colleagues at Mansoura University are not far behind her. (Photo courtesy Sanaa El-Sayed) Sometimes, paleontology is about looking forward. Sure, the field is focused on uncovering and understanding the past, but to continue to progress, like every other area of science, paleontology needs a constant influx of new and enthusiastic talent. And as more opportunities open up around the world for both academic studies and fieldwork, from Antarctica to the expansive deserts of Africa, the next generation of paleontologists are blazing new trails. Here at Dead Things, I'll be spotlighting these rising stars of the field in an occasional Q&A series, The NextGen Paleontologist. Today's paleo-to-know: Sanaa El-Sayed, who's making a splash for her description of an ancient fish from her native Egypt. Qarmoutus hitanensis is the first catfish to be found at the famous Valley of Whales site, and it's no small fry. Let's just say that if you were fishing in the area back when Q. hitanensis was swimming around, some 37 million years ago, you'd need a bigger boat.
The desert expanse and wind-scoured rocks of Wadi Al-Hitan are home to the earliest whales — and to the latest fossil find by a rising star in paleontology, Sanaa El-Sayed. (Credit: Hatem Moushir) El-Sayed, 26, has the distinction of being the first woman vertebrate paleontologist from the Middle East to be first author on a paper published internationally. With her colleagues, this week in PLOS One she describedQ. hitanensis, an ancient catfish from Egypt's famously fossiliferous Wadi Al-Hitan. Also known as The Valley of Whales, or Whale Valley, the UNESCO site contains the earliest known whales and chronicles one of evolution's biggest plot twists: when some land-based animals said to heck with terrestrialism and headed back to sea. El-Sayed, who will be defending her masters thesis later this month, currently teaches stratigraphy and paleontology at Mansoura University, located in the Nile Delta region north of Cairo. She's also the lab manager of the Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology Center (MUVP), which she describes as "the first and only of its kind in the Egyptian universities if not in the Middle East." MUVP is in the vanguard of a new wave of interest in paleontology in Africa and the Middle East, fueled by recent discoveries and calls for a more prominent research role for local and regional paleontologists in a field that is still largely dominated by American, European and Asian researchers. El-Sayed stayed up late at her home near the university last night to share her research and her story with Dead Things.
