Named By: | David Weishampel, CoraliainMaria Jianu, Zoltan Csiki & David Bruce Norman in 2003 |
Time Period: | 70 Ma |
Location: | Romania, Transylvania - Sanpetru Formation |
Size: | 2 to 3 meters long for Z. robustus, 4 to 4.5 meters long for Z. shqiperorum |
Diet: | Herbivore |
Fossil(s): | Hundreds of bones have been recovered allowing for reconstruction of the post cranial skeleton with the exception of the outer extremities such as the hands, feet and tail. Skull known from partial remains |
Classification: | | Chordata | Reptilia | Dinosauria | Ornithischia | Ornithopoda | Rhabdodontidae | |
Also known as: | | Onychosaurus | |
Zalmoxes is an extinct genus of rhabdodontid ornithopod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Romania. The genus is known from specimens first named as the species Mochlodon robustum in 1899 by Franz Nopcsa before being reclassified as Rhabdodon robustum by him in 1915. In 1990 this name was corrected to Rhabdodon robustus by George Olshevsky, and in 2003 the species was once more reclassified, this time as the type species Zalmoxes robustus. Zalmoxes refers to the Dacian deity Zalmoxis, and robustus to the robustness of the remains. In 2003 another species was named, Zalmoxes shqiperorum, named for the Albanian name for Albania.