Zalmoxes
Named after Zalmoxis (also spelled Zamolxis), a deity or legendary king worshipped by the Getae people of ancient Thrace and Dacia (modern Romania), where the fossil was found.
Zalmoxes is a genus of probable rhabdodontid ornithopod dinosaur from the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous in what is now Romania. The genus is known from specimens first named as the species Mochlodon robustum in 1899 by Franz Nopcsa before Nopcsa reclassified them as Rhabdodon robustum in 1915. In 1990, this name was corrected to Rhabdodon robustus by George Olshevsky and, in 2003, the species was once more reclassified as the type species Zalmoxes robustus. Zalmoxes represents one of the most common vertebrates of Transylvania during the latest Cretaceous period. The generic name refers to the Dacian deity Zalmoxis and the specific name robustus refers to the robustness of the remains. Another species, Zalmoxes shqiperorum, was named in 2003, but this species has since been reassigned to a separate genus of ceratopsian, Ferenceratops.
Diagnosis
- Supraacetabular process on the ilium
- Complex squamose suture between quadratojugal and quadrate
- Post-temporal foramen transmitted through squamosal body
- Reduced external mandibular fenestra positioned along upper anterior surangular border
- Secondary surangular foramen
- Long dorsoventrally-narrow twisted preacetabular process
Species
Zalmoxes robustus Weishampel et al., 2003
Type species
From Latin 'robustus' meaning 'robust' or 'strong', referring to the robust build of the skeletal remains.
- Holotype
- BMNH R3392 , Natural History Museum
- Material
- Right dentary.
- Horizon
- Sânpetru Formation, Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 72.2–66.0 million years ago
- Locality
- Sânpetru, Hunedoara, Romania
Synonyms of the genus
| Name | Type | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Onychosaurus | junior subjective | An obscure historical name; the material is now generally treated as referable to Zalmoxes. |
References
- Weishampel, D. B.; Jianu, C.; Csiki, Z.; Norman, D. B. (2003). Osteology and phylogeny of Zalmoxes (n. g.), an unusual euornithopod dinosaur from the latest Cretaceous of Romania. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 1(2): 65-123. Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1017/s1477201903001032 weishampel2003a
-
Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.
Source of the hip height estimate.
jones2026a