Magyarosaurus

Size compared to humans

• Romania

Magyarosaurus (of ungar: Magyar " Hungarian" ) is a genus of sauropod dinosaurs that (late Maastrichtian ) lived at the end of the Cretaceous. The fossils of this dinosaur were discovered in Sânpetru in western Romania.

Description

The initial description of the type species Magyarosaurus dacus was in 1915 by Franz Nopcsa and was based on the discovery of two fossil vertebrae. However Nopcsa arranged the fossil to the genus Titanosaurus. Until 1932 after further finds Titanosaurus dacus was first described as Magyarosaurus dacus after Friedrich von Huene three other species, Magyarosaurus transsylvanicus, Magyarosaurus hungaricus and Magyarosaurus sp. had appointed. The eddy had with these fossils greater similarity than those of Titanosaurus.

Two later authors, McIntosh (1990) and Le Loeuff (1993 ) only considered the type Magyarosaurus dacus as invalid.

Anatomy

With a length of six and a height of two meters and a weight of approximately one ton Magyarosaurus was much smaller than most other sauropods, which corresponded to approximately Europasaurus.

Maybe his back was covered with an armor of bone bumps that offered the protection of animals from predators. Magyarosaurus similar in physique strong Titanosaurus, however, was smaller. The tail of Magyarosaurus was long and may he used as a weapon against small carnivores.

Habitat

The small body size of Magyarosaurus could be due to a Inselverzwergung. During the Upper Cretaceous today's Romania consisted of a group of islands. This would explain the dwarfish growth of the animals. By adapting to the resources of the limited habitat these sauropods would have actually lost over time in size. In addition Magyarosaurus had on these islands hardly predators. Other sauropods frightened their enemies from above all by its enormous size.

Species

• Magyarosaurus ( Titanosaurus ) dacus Nopcsa, 1915

Swell

• Jeffrey Wilson and Paul Upchurch: A revision of Titanosaurus Lydekker ( Dinosauria - Sauropoda ), the first dinosaur genus with a ' Gondwanan ' distribution, 2003, In: Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 1 (3 ), pp. 125-160.
• Helmut Werner: 1000 dinosaur. Naumann & Göbel 2007, ISBN 3-625-11519-0.