Scientists from around the world have identified a new type of dinosaur in Romania, which they named Transylvanosaurus platycephalus after the region where it was found and due to its flat head. This herbivorous dinosaur lived approximately 70 million years ago and was relatively small, measuring just two meters in length. Other dinosaurs in the region, including Transylvanosaurus platycephalus, are considered "dwarf dinosaurs" due to their small size.
The discovery of this new species challenges the previously held belief that there was low diversity among these animals in Europe during the Late Cretaceous period, just before the extinction of dinosaurs 66 million years ago. The research has been published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology by experts from the University of Tübingen, the University of Bucharest, and the University of Zurich.
'Wide and Flat-Headed'
The scientists who discovered Transylvanosaurus were surprised to find the dinosaur on an "Island of the Dwarf Dinosaurs" in present-day Transylvania, as its closest relatives have been found in France. In their research, paleontologists Felix Augustin, Zoltán Csiki-Sava, Dylan Bastiaans, and Mihai Dumbravă from the University of Tübingen, the University of Bucharest, the University of Zurich/Naturalis Biodiversity Center Leiden, and Dorset, respectively, proposed several possible explanations for how Transylvanosaurus may have ended up in Romania.
These include the idea that the animal, like other members of the Rhabdodontidae family from Eastern Europe, could have migrated westward and then later returned to Transylvania, or that temporary land bridges created by fluctuations in sea level and tectonic activity may have allowed the animal to spread to the region. Transylvanosaurus is characterized by a "long" and "widely splayed" head with "exceptionally wide frontals," which are wider than those of other Rhabdodontidae found in the area.
In addition to the possible explanations already mentioned, it is possible that Transylvanosaurus and other dinosaurs were able to swim to some extent. According to Augustin, they had powerful legs and a powerful tail. A large group of species, in particular reptiles, are able to swim from their birth. It is also possible that several lines of the rhabdodontid genus evolved alone in both the western and eastern regions of Europe.
During the Cretaceous period, which lasted from 145 million to 66 million years ago, Europe was made up of tropical islands. Transylvanosaurus and other dwarf dinosaurs, crocodiles, turtles, and giant pterosaurs with wingspans up to ten meters lived on these islands. Augustin states that "with each newly-discovered species they are disproving the widespread assumption that the Late Cretaceous fauna had a low diversity in Europe."
Inhabitants of the “Island of the Dwarf Dinosaurs” in present-day Transylvania in the Cretaceous: Transylvanosaurus (front right), as well as turtles, crocodiles, giant pterosaurs, and other dwarf dinosaurs.
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Transylvanosaurus Location Mystery
As reported by SciTechDaily, in the Late Cretaceous, the Rhabdodontidae were the most common group of small to medium herbivorous dinosaurs in Europe. It is currently unclear how Transylvanosaurus ended up in the eastern part of the European archipelago. Augustin notes that they currently have too little data at hand to answer these questions." The researchers had only a few bones, none longer than 12 centimeters, for their taxonomic classification, including the rear part of the skull with the occipital foramen and two frontal bones. Bastiaans, from the University of Zurich and Naturalis Biodiversity Center Leiden, adds that it was even possible to see the contours of Transylvanosaurus' brain on the inside of the frontal bone.
In 2007, Zoltán Csiki-Sava and his team from the University of Bucharest discovered the skull bones of Transylvanosaurus in a riverbed in the Haţeg Basin in Transylvania, which is known for its numerous Late Cretaceous vertebrate discoveries. A total of ten dinosaur species have been identified in this region.
Csiki-Sava says that is unusual. When they do find something, there are often only a few bones; nevertheless, even these can sometimes yield amazing news - such as with Transylvanosaurus now." The bones of Transylvanosaurus were able to be preserved for millions of years due to being protected by the sediments of an ancient riverbed until they were later uncovered by another river. If the dinosaur had died on land rather than being partly buried, its bones would have likely been destroyed by weather and scavengers, and they would not have learned about it, according to Augustin.
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