| Zalmoxes Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, Maastrichtian |
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|---|---|
| Reconstruction of the skull of Zalmoxes based on the parts of the skull which are known | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | †Ornithischia |
| Suborder: | †Ornithopoda |
| Family: | †Rhabdodontidae |
| Genus: | †Zalmoxes Weishampel et al., 2003 |
| Species | |
Zalmoxes (named after the Dacian deity Zalmoxis) is a genus of herbivorous dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of what is now Romania. It is classified as a rhabdodontid iguanodont.
In 1900 Franz Nopcsa named a new species of Mochlodon, Mochlodon robustum, based on numerous fossils found in Transylvania. The specific name refers to the robust build.[1] In 1915 he renamed it as a species of Rhabdodon, Rhabdodon robustum, emended in 1990 by George Olshevsky to Rhabdodon robustus.
In 2003 David Weishampel, Coralia-Maria Jianu, Zoltan Csiki and David Bruce Norman named a new genus for the finds: Zalmoxes, a spelling variant of Zalmoxis. The name of this deity was chosen because it retreated for three years in a crypt to be resurrected on the fourth year; likewise the animal Zalmoxes had by Nopcsa been liberated from its fossil grave to attain taxonomic immortality.
The type species Mochlodon robustus is thus recombined into Zalmoxes robustus. The holotype, BMNH R.3392, is a right dentary. Hundreds of other bones have been referred to the species, excavated from the Sânpetru Formation, which dates to the late Maastrichtian. Most of the skeleton is known with exception of the end of the tail, the hands and the feet.[2]
The same authors in 2003 named and described a second species: Zalmoxes shqiperorum. The specific name is derived from Shqiperia, Albanian for Albania, because Baron Nopcsa had a special relationship with this country, once attempting to become its king. The holotype is BMNH R.4900, a partial skeleton.
In 2005 Sven Sachs and Jahn J. Hornung provisionally transferred Austria material of Mochlodon suessii to Zalmoxes sp., asserting a formal identity would imply that the name Mochlodon would replace Zalmoxes as it has priority.[3]
Zalmoxes was a rather small bipedal herbivore, but stoutly built with a large triangular head featuring a pointed beak and a short neck. The species Z. robustus was smaller, 2 to 3 meters long (7 to 10 ft). Z. shqiperorum was 4 to 4.5 meters long (13 to 15 ft). The small size was explained by Nopcsa as an instance of insular dwarfism.
Zalmoxes was assigned to a new clade in 2003: the Rhabdodontidae.