Skull bones of the Transylvanosaurus. Credit: Dylan Bastiaans/ University of Zurich
Whilst the head of Transylvanosaurus is explained as “long”, and “extensively splayed”, with “extremely broad frontals”– far broader than other members of the Rhabdodontidae household discovered in the very same area– what was simply as surprising to the researchers was why they discovered Transylvanosaurus on the Island of the Dwarf Dinosaurs, in what is now Transylvania.
Its nearby family members have actually been found in what today is France.
In the brand-new research study, paleontologists Felix Augustin from the University of Tübingen, his doctoral manager Zoltán Csiki-Sava from the University of Bucharest, Dylan Bastiaans from the University of Zurich/Naturalis Biodiversity Center Leiden, and independent scientist Mihai Dumbravă from Dorset rebuild various possibilities of how Transylvanosaurus reached present-day Romania. These consist of a recommendation that just like other Rhabdodontidae from Eastern Europe– the animals might have spread out westwards, and later on particular types might have gone back to Transylvania.
Fluctuations in water level and tectonic procedures may have produced short-lived land bridges between the numerous islands and could have motivated these animals to spread out.
It can be assumed that nearly all dinosaurs might swim to a level, consisting of Transylvanosaurus. “They had effective legs and a powerful tail. Many types, in specific reptiles, can swim from birth,” states Augustin. Another possibility is that different lines of rhabdodontid types progressed in parallel in western and eastern Europe.
For many of the Cretaceous duration, which lasted from 145 million years to 66 million years back, Europe was a tropical archipelago. Transylvanosaurus resided on among the many islands together with other dwarf dinosaurs, crocodiles, turtles, and giant flying pterosaurs which had wingspans of as much as 10 meters. “With each newly-discovered types we are disproving the widespread assumption that the Late Cretaceous animals had a low variety in Europe,” states Augustin.
Throughout the Late Cretaceous, the Rhabdodontidae were the most common group of little to medium herbivores in Europe.
Exactly how Transylvanosaurus ended up in the eastern part of the European island chain remains uncertain for now. “We have currently too little information at hand to respond to these questions,” states Augustin.
The team had just a couple of bones for the taxonomic classification, and none longer than twelve centimeters: the back, lower part of the skull with the occipital foramen and 2 frontal bones.
” On the within the frontal bone it was even possible to recognize the shapes of the brain of Transylvanosaurus”, co-author Dylan Bastiaans, from the University of Zurich/ Naturalis Biodiversity Center Leiden, includes.
Zoltán Csiki-Sava and his group from the University of Bucharest discovered the skull bones of Transylvanosaurus in 2007 in a riverbed of the Haţeg Basin, in Transylvania, which is among the most essential locations for Late Cretaceous vertebrate discoveries in Europe.
A total of 10 dinosaur species have actually currently been determined there. “That is unusual. When we do discover something, there are typically just a few bones; however, even these can in some cases yield remarkable news– such as with Transylvanosaurus now” states Csiki-Sava.
The bones of Transylvanosaurus were able to endure for 10s of countless years due to the fact that they were secured by the sediments of an ancient riverbed– till another river washed them totally free once again.
” If the dinosaur had actually passed away and simply push the ground rather of being partially buried, weather condition and scavengers would quickly have actually damaged all of its bones and we would never ever have actually found out about it,” describes Augustin in conclusion.
Reference: “A new ornithopod dinosaur, Transylvanosaurus platycephalus gen. et sp. nov. (Dinosauria: Ornithischia), from the Upper Cretaceous of the Haţeg Basin, Romania” by Felix J. Augustin, Dylan Bastiaans, Mihai D. Dumbravă and Zoltán Csiki-Sava, 23 November 2022, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.DOI: 10.1080/ 02724634.2022.2133610.
It can be assumed that almost all dinosaurs might swim to a degree, consisting of Transylvanosaurus. Transylvanosaurus lived on one of the lots of islands together with other dwarf dinosaurs, crocodiles, turtles, and giant flying pterosaurs which had wingspans of up to 10 meters. “With each newly-discovered species we are negating the extensive assumption that the Late Cretaceous animals had a low variety in Europe,” says Augustin.
An overall of ten dinosaur species have currently been determined there. When we do find something, there are frequently only a few bones; however, even these can in some cases yield remarkable news– such as with Transylvanosaurus now” says Csiki-Sava.
Occupants of the “Island of the Dwarf Dinosaurs” in present-day Transylvania in the Cretaceous: Transylvanosaurus (front right), along with turtles, crocodiles, giant pterosaurs, and other dwarf dinosaurs. Credit: Peter Nickolaus
A global team of researchers have discovered a previously unidentified types of dinosaur in Romania and named it after its uncommonly flat head– and the region where it was found, Transylvania.
Herbivore Transylvanosaurus platycephalus, translating as flat-headed reptile from Transylvania, lived around 70 million years ago and, at just 2 meters long, it reached just a little body size– similar to other dinosaurs in the region, who are for that reason acknowledged as “dwarf dinosaurs”.
Reporting their findings in the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, experts from the University of Tübingen, the University of Bucharest, and the University of Zurich state its discovery disproves the prevalent assumption that there was a low variety of such animals in Europe throughout the Late Cretaceous period, shortly prior to the extinction of dinosaurs 66 million years earlier.