| Transylvanosaurus Temporal range: Late Cretaceous | |
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| An artist's illustration of Transylvanosaurus in its natural habitat | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Ornithischia |
| Suborder: | Ornithopoda |
| Family: | †Rhabdodontidae |
| Genus: | †Transylvanosaurus |
| Species: | †T. platycephalus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Transylvanosaurus platycephalus | |
Transylvanosaurus ("Transylvanian lizard") is a genus of rhabdodontid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period (Maastricht Age, about 72 to 66 million years ago). It lived on the territory of the so-called Haţeg Island in the territory of present-day Romania.
Hisory of discovery and description[]
A type specimen in the form of a partially preserved fossil skull (bearing the designation LPB (FGGUB) R.2070) was discovered in 2007 near the Bărbat River in Hunedoara County in western Romania. The sediments in this part of the Hateg Valley fall into the middle part of the Maastricht Age, i.e. they are about 70 to 68 million years old. The genus name of the dinosaur refers to the place of its discovery, the species (in translation "broadhead") then to an unusually wide skull in relation to the skulls of related genera. The type species, T. pachycephalus, was formally described in late 2022.
Dimensions[]
Transylvanosaurus was a relatively small ornithopod dinosaur. The total weight of these rhabdodontids is estimated at approximately 41 kilograms. However, according to other estimates, these dinosaurs reached a length of up to 4.5 meters and a weight of hundreds of kilograms.
Classification[]
According to phylogenetic analysis, Transylvanosaurus was closely related to Rhabdodon, Mochlodon and Zalmoxes. It belongs to the family rhabdodontidae, small to medium-sized herbivorous ornithopods from the Late Cretaceous period.