Open Paleo

Hungarosaurus

Ősi, 2005 hun-GAH-ro-SOR-us

From Latin Hungaria (Hungary) and Greek sauros (lizard); meaning 'Hungarian lizard'

85.7–83.6 million years ago Santonian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Hungarosaurus is an extinct genus of nodosaurid ankylosaurian dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) Csehbánya Formation of the Bakony Mountains, western Hungary. The type (and only) species is H. tormai, and represents the most completely known ankylosaur from the Cretaceous of Europe. Hungarosaurus walked on four legs and its body was covered with hundreds of osteoderms. The length of mature specimens was about 4-4.8 meters (13-16 ft).

Diagnosis

  1. Large notch at front of premaxillae
  2. Thin nasal process of premaxillae
  3. Robust rhomboidal quadrate condyles
  4. Large interpterygoid vacuity
  5. Dorsoventrally wide quadratojugal with strong protuberance
  6. Posterodorsally oriented crest-like protuberance on postorbital
  7. Short diastema between symphysis and first dentary tooth position
  8. Very short retroarticular process of surangular
  9. Anteriormost dorsal vertebra with unusual transversely wide, anteroposteriorly short amphicoelous centrum with very large neural canal
  10. Dorsally displaced pseudoacromial process of scapula

Species

Hungarosaurus tormai Ősi, 2005

Type species

Named for András Torma, the amateur paleontologist who discovered the fossil site in 2000.

Holotype
HNHM Gyn/404 , Hungarian Natural History Museum
Material
Skull fragments (premaxilla with one tooth, left lacrimal, left prefrontal, right postorbital, jugal, quadratojugal, left frontal, vomer, pterygoid, right quadrate, basioccipital, 21 isolated teeth, hyoid bone), mandible parts, three cervical, six dorsal, ten caudal vertebrae, ribs, chevrons, scapulocoracoid, radius with metacarpals, ilia, ischium, femur, fibula, over 100 osteoderms
Horizon
Csehbánya Formation, Santonian, Late Cretaceous , 85.7–83.6 million years ago
Locality
Iharkút, Veszprém, Hungary

References

  1. Ősi, A. (2005). Hungarosaurus tormai, a new ankylosaur (Dinosauria) from the Upper Cretaceous of Hungary. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25(2): 370-383. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0370:htanad]2.0.co;2 ősi2005a
  2. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate, and the appearance features.

    jones2026a
  3. Csiki-Sava, Z.; Buffetaut, E.; Ősi, A.; Pereda-Suberbiola, X.; Brusatte, S. L. (2015). Island life in the Cretaceous — faunal composition, biogeography, evolution, and extinction of land-living vertebrates on the Late Cretaceous European archipelago. ZooKeys 469: 1-161. doi:10.3897/zookeys.469.8439

    Gives a position for the Iharkút open-pit mine as a whole, which holds several bone-bearing sites.

    csiki-sava2015a