TELMATOSAURUS-TRANSSYLVANICUS FROM THE LATE CRETACEOUS OF ROMANIA - THE MOST BASAL HADROSAURID DINOSAUR

The hadrosaurid dinosaur Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus from the Late C retaceous of the Hateg region of Romania is redescribed and its phylog enetic position among hadrosaurids and successive sister-taxa is evalu ated. Hadrosauridae is defined and diagnosed as a monophyletic group o n the basis of twelve of the best-known genera and species previously referred to this higher taxon. T. transsylvanicus lacks a number of fe atures (among them, narrow mandibular condyle of the quadrate, narrow dentary teeth, single large carina on dentary teeth) that diagnose rem aining members of Hadrosauridae. As a consequence, our study indicates that T. transsylvanicus is the most basal of known hadrosaurids. The late Maastrichtian age of T. transsylvanicus suggests that this specie s was an evolutionary relict, isolated from its sister taxon (all rema ining hadrosaurids) for at least fifteen million years. The geographic al distribution of T. transsylvanicus, across an archipelago of Europe an islands at the end of the Cretaceous, may well account for such an evolutionary relationship.