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Zalmoxes

Say it: zal-MOHX-eez

Name means: “named after Zalmoxis, a god in ancient Dacian mythology”1

Ate: PlantsBeaked plant-eatersLate Cretaceous

Zalmoxes was a small, plant-eating dinosaur that lived on an island called Hateg, in what is now Romania. It walked on two legs, had a beak, and ate tough plants. It was about the size of a small car, but some were even smaller!1

Lived

84 to 66 million years ago4

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

Fossils found in Romania, in the Hateg Island region, including the Sânpetru, Sebes, and Densuș-Ciula formations.1 4

Food

Plants1 4

Length

2 to 2.9 m1

Subadults about 2 to 2.4 m, adults up to 2.5 m, one unnamed species up to 2.9 m

Weight

45 kg1

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

How long was it?

How heavy was it?

as heavy as 11 house cats

as long as 3 dogs nose to tailas long as 16 bananas end to endas heavy as 9 watermelons

How big was Zalmoxes compared to YOU?

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cool stuff

Fun facts

Zalmoxes had a slow growth rate and a long growth period, which is different from many other dinosaurs.1

It lived on an island, and scientists think it might have been smaller than its relatives because of island dwarfism, though some think it was already small.1

Zalmoxes had a large triangular head and a beak, which helped it eat tough plants.1

Fossils of Zalmoxes have been found in Austria and France too, not just Romania.4

One species of Zalmoxes, called Z. shqiperorum, was later reclassified as a different type of dinosaur, a ceratopsian, not an ornithopod.1

Zalmoxes was one of the most common vertebrates in Transylvania during the latest Cretaceous period.1

AI-made picture of Zalmoxes — An AI-made picture of how Zalmoxes might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Zalmoxes

?How big was Zalmoxes?

Zalmoxes was small, with adults of Z. robustus reaching about 2.5 metres (8.2 feet) long and weighing about 45 kilograms (99 pounds). An unnamed species grew to about 2.9 metres (9.5 feet) long.1

?What did Zalmoxes eat?

Zalmoxes ate tough, fibrous plants like soft shoots, horsetails, angiosperms, pteridophytes, and ferns. It had a beak and could process C3 plants.1

?When did Zalmoxes live?

Zalmoxes lived during the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous, about 70 to 66 million years ago. It was one of the most common vertebrates in Transylvania at that time.1 3

?Where was Zalmoxes found?

Fossils of Zalmoxes have been found in Romania, specifically in the Hateg Basin of Transylvania. Some sources also mention finds in Austria and France, but the main site is Romania.1 3

?Was Zalmoxes a dinosaur?

Yes, Zalmoxes was a dinosaur, specifically a small ornithopod. It is classified as a probable rhabdodontid ornithopod, not a ceratopsian, though one species was later reclassified.1 3

?Why was Zalmoxes small?

Scientists once thought Zalmoxes was small due to island dwarfism, but later studies suggest it was already close to the size of its ancestors. Some related species were larger or smaller due to island effects.1

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Myth buster

Myth: Some people think Zalmoxes was a dwarf dinosaur because it lived on an island.

Truth: Scientists now think Zalmoxes was already small, and its larger relative Rhabdodon had island gigantism, while a smaller relative Mochlodon had island dwarfism.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Zalmoxes
Named by: Weishampel et al. 20034
Group: Beaked plant-eaters
Family / clade: Rhabdodontoidea4
Classification: Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia4
Age of the rocks: 84 to 66 million years (Campanian / Maastrichtian)4
Rock formations: Sebeş, Sînpetru, Densuș-Ciula4
Countries: Romania, Austria, France4
Fossil records: 44 in the Paleobiology Database4
Also known as: Onychosaurus (older names now counted as the same animal)4
Discovery: The first fossils were named Mochlodon robustus by Baron Franz Nopcsa in 1899. In 2003, scientists renamed them Zalmoxes robustus after studying new remains.1 2
Still debated: Scientists still debate whether Zalmoxes was a dwarf species or just naturally small, and how it is related to other similar dinosaurs.1

Where the facts come from

Zalmoxes (en.wikipedia.org)
Osteology and phylogeny of Zalmoxes (n. g.), an unusual Euornithopod dinosaur from the latest Cretaceous of Romania (tandfonline.com)
Zalmoxes | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)
Zalmoxes in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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