An international team of researchers recently identified a new species of dwarf dinosaur. According to a press release, the team first found the bones in 2007 in a riverbed of the Haţeg Basin in Transylvania — a hot spot for Late Cretaceous vertebrate discoveries in Europe.
The dinosaur, an herbivore in the Rhabdodontidae family, lived nearly 70 million years ago and had an extremely flat head. Because of this, researchers have named it Transylvanosaurus platycephalus or 'flat-headed reptile from Transylvania.' However, while the name describes this newly discovered dinosaur perfectly, researchers are puzzled as to how it got to the "Island of the Dwarves" in Transylvania to begin with. According to a press release, T. platycephalus' closest relatives lived in what is now France.
It's possible that the dinosaurs could have spread westward, according to a press release. Or, as sea levels fluctuate, land bridges could have been formed, and ...
