The discovery of an unknown Romanian dinosaur having a wide and flathead has researchers buzzing over this latest find.
New Dinosaur Species Discovered in Transylvania
An international research team discovered a previously unknown type of dinosaur in Romania and named it after its unusually shaped head and the region where it was discovered, Transylvania, reported Sci Tech Daily.
The discovery refutes the widely held belief that there was a limited variety of these animals in Europe during the Late Cretaceous period, just before the dinosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago, as said by experts from the Universities of Tübingen, Bucharest, and Zurich, citing B Explore.
Findings have been reported in the peer-reviewed Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Scientists have been shocked by the revelation of Transylvanosaurus on the "Island of the Dwarf Dinosaurs," which is now Transylvania, even though its head is described as "long," "widely splayed," and possessing "exceptionally wide frontals," which are far broader than most other members of the Rhabdodontidae family found within the same location,
Europe was a tropical archipelago for the vast bulk of the dinosaur age, which persisted from 145 million to 66 million years ago. This dinosaur lived during a period in Earth's history when the islands were home to many other small saurians, turtles, and giant pterosaurs with wing spans of at least 30 feet.
A widely held assumption that Cenozoic plants and animals in Europe had such a low degree of diversity is refuted for every recently discovered species.
Rhabdodontidae constituted Europe's most pervasive family of small to medium-sized land animals during the Late Cretaceous, noted Phys Org.
Wide and Flat-Headed Dinosaur Discovered
How the small Transylvanosaurus wound up to be seen in the eastern part of the European archipelago is something unsure for now, said the study authors.
Data is too little hand to make any guesses about the pygmy species of dinosaurs, and more research is needed. The group only had a few bones for taxonomic identification, none of which were longer than 12 cm. these were the rear bottom portion of the cranium with an occipital foramen and two different frontal bones.
One of the authors Dylan Bastiaans, from the University of Zurich/ Naturalis Biodiversity Center Leiden, added that inside the frontal bone, it was even possible to discern the contours of the brain. He said about ten dinosaur species had been identified from that part of the world. Finding bones can lead to the discovery of a new animal, which is strange.
The bones of Transylvanosaurus were able to survive for millions of years as they were shielded by the sediments of an antiquated river bottom until another creek washed them free once more, citing Taylor & Francis Online.
Coming across a Romanian dinosaur with a wide and flathead in Transylvania is something that does not always come.
