page_title: Hațeg Island
section_title: Paleofauna
hierarchical_section_title: Hațeg Island / Paleofauna
caption_attribution_description: English: Comparison between Z. robustus and Z. shqiperorum
context_page_description: Hațeg Island was a large offshore island in the Tethys Sea which existed during the Late Cretaceous period, probably from the Cenomanian to the Maastrichtian ages. It was situated in an area corresponding to the region around modern-day Hațeg, Hunedoara County, Romania. Maastrichtian fossils of small-sized dinosaurs have been found in the island's rocks.
  It was formed mainly by tectonic uplift during the early Alpine orogeny, caused by the collision of the African and Eurasian plates towards the end of the Cretaceous. There is no real present-day analog, but overall, the island of Hainan is perhaps closest as regards climate, geology and topography, though still not a particularly good match. The vegetation, for example, was of course entirely distinct from today, as was the fauna.
  The Hungarian paleontologist Franz Nopcsa theorized that "limited resources" found on the island commonly have an effect of "reducing the size of animals" over the generations, producing a localized form of dwarfism. Nopcsa's theory of insular dwarfism—also known as the island rule—is today widely accepted.
context_section_description: About nine species of dinosaurs, and several species of pterosaur are thought to have been indigenous to the island. Most of these animals were smaller versions of mainland megafauna, which became smaller due to island dwarfism, although this is certainly not the case for Hatzegopteryx which, being one of the biggest pterosaurs ever, is an example of island gigantism. Mammals are almost exclusively represented by the endemic kogaionid multituberculates, an endemic group that evolved in the island's isolation and developed unique insectivorous habits, as well as a single eutherian remain.
  Among these animals are included:
  Allodaposuchus precedens, an eusuchian
  Sabresuchus sympiestodon, a paralligatorid
  Barbatodon, a genus of multituberculate represented by at least three species
  Kogaionon ungureanui, a multituberculate
  Litovoi tholocephalos, a dome-headed multituberculate
  Hatzegopteryx thambema, an azhdarchid
  Rhabdodon priscus, a rhabdodontid
  Zalmoxes robustus, a rhabdodontid
  Telmatosaurus transylvanicus, a hadrosaur
  Struthiosaurus transylvanicus, a struthiosaurine nodosaur
  Magyarosaurus dacus, a titanosaur (either a saltasaurid or a nemegtosaurid)
  Paludititan nalatzensis, a titanosaur
  Elopteryx nopcsai, an elopterygine troodont
  "Megalosaurus hungaricus", an indeterminate theropod
  Balaur bondoc, originally described as a dromeosaurid but now believed to be an early example of insular flightless bird
  Bradycneme draculae, an alvarezsaurid
  Eurazhdarcho langendorfensis, an azhdarchid
  Albadraco tharmisensis, an azhdarchid
  A new recently found species of azhdarchid is also found, but has no name yet.
  Aprosuchus ghirai-a late surviving atoposaurid crocodyliform
caption: Reconstruction of Zalmoxes robustus, a herbivorous dinosaur from the Hațeg Island ecosystem
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