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This is what the Transylvanosaurus (front right) might have looked like
Photo: Illustration: Peter Nickolaus
During the Cretaceous Period, which began 145 million years ago and ended 66 million years ago, Europe was a tropical archipelago.
And on one of the many islands, a previously unknown miniature dinosaur lived together with other miniature dinosaurs, crocodiles, turtles and giant pterosaurs, whose wings span up to ten meters.
In western Romania, an international team of researchers has found the remains of the animal they have dubbed Transylvanosaurus platycephalus.
The name means something like »broad-headed reptile from Transylvania«.
In the journal "Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology", the group led by Felix Augustin from the University of Tübingen reports on the discovery of several skull bones.
On two of them, the outlines of the Transylvanosaurus brain were still visible.
The previously unknown pygmy dinosaur lived about 70 million years ago - i.e. shortly before the dinosaurs became extinct - and was a herbivore.
The animal was only about two meters long and was walking on two legs.
“With every newly discovered species, the widespread assumption that the fauna of the Cretaceous period in Europe was species-poor continues to dissipate,” says researcher Augustin.
The small body size, which also affected other dinosaurs in the region, can probably be explained by the limited food supply.
Ten dinosaur species already identified in the region
In addition to the Tübingen paleontologist, experts from the universities of Bucharest and Zurich were also involved in the study.
For the Cretaceous period, the Haţeg Basin in Transylvania is one of the most important find sites in Europe.
A total of ten dinosaur species have already been identified there.
The scientists suspect that fluctuations in sea level and tectonic processes could have temporarily created land connections between the many islands, which would have favored the spread in different parts of today's Europe.
The closest known relatives of the newly discovered species lived in a region that is now part of France.
chs/AFP