Hațeg Island

Hațeg Island was a large offshore

Eurasian plates towards the end of the Cretaceous.^[7] There is no real present-day analog, but overall, the island of Hainan (off the coast of China) is perhaps closest as regards climate, geology and topography, though still not a particularly good match. The vegetation, for example, was of course entirely distinct from today, as was the fauna

.

The Hungarian paleontologist

island rule—is today widely accepted.^[8]

Geography

While a variety of estimates regarding the prehistoric island's size have been given over the years, the most reliable estimate places it at roughly 80,000 square kilometres (31,000 sq mi) during the Maastrichtian, or about the size of the modern island of Hispaniola. It was positioned just within the equatorial belt, at about 27°N latitude.^[1]

Hațeg Island was probably located at least 200 kilometres (120 mi) from the nearest land mass. To the northwest was an island corresponding to the

Adriatic region to the south.^[1]

Hațeg Island itself was surrounded primarily by a deep marine basin, unlike some of the surrounding islands and land masses which were surrounded by shallow seas.[1]

Climate and ecology

During the Maastrichtian, the climate of Hațeg Island was subtropical, with an average temperature of 20–25 °C (68–77 °F).^[1] The island experience marked rainy and dry seasons, but despite this, the plant life on the island was mainly tropical in nature. Carbon isotopes indicate "dry woodland" conditions. This seeming contradiction between the seasonally dry climate and tropical plant species can be explained by the fact that tropical plants can thrive in a seasonally monsoonal environment today as long as they have access to sufficient amounts of water year-round, and the Hațeg environment seems to have been dominated by braided rivers and lakes. Early rock layers are dominated by volcanic deposits, but these are absent in higher layers, indicating that volcanic activity dropped off during this time.^[1]

Paleofauna

The local macropredator *Hatzegopteryx* hunting the herbivore *Zalmoxes*

About nine species of dinosaurs, and several species of pterosaur are thought to have been indigenous to the island. These insular

eutherian remain.^[12] Remains of an indeterminate dromaeosaurid have also been found.^[13]

Among these animals are included:

Albadraco tharmisensis, an azhdarchid
Allodaposuchus precedens, an eusuchian

crocodyliform

dromaeosaurid but now believed to be an early example of insular flightless bird

multituberculate
represented by at least three species
Barbatteiidae, a family of teiid lizards endemic to the island

Becklesius nopcsai, a paramacellodid lizard

Bicuspidon hatzegiensis, a polyglyphanodont lizard

alvarezsaurid

troodont

Eurazhdarcho langendorfensis
, an azhdarchid

Gargantuavis, an avian dinosaur

alvarezsaurid

Hatzegobatrachus grigorescui, a possible bombinatorid toad

Hatzegopteryx thambema
, an azhdarchid

Kallokibotion bajazidi, a perichelydian testudinata

Kogaionon ungureanui, a multituberculate

Litovoi tholocephalos, a dome-headed multituberculate

nemegtosaurid
)

"theropod

Nidophis insularis, an madtsoiid snake

Paludititan nalatzensis
, a titanosaur

Paralatonia transylvanica, a alytid frog

rhabdodontid

Sabresuchus sympiestodon, a paralligatorid

nodosaur

Telmatosaurus transylvanicus, a hadrosauromorph

Transylvanosaurus platycephalus, a rhabdodontid

Zalmoxes robustus
, a rhabdodontid

A robust-necked azhdarchid without name^[14]

Constituent formations

The Hațeg Island record is preserved as a number of formations, dating from the late Campanian to the Maastrichtian. These include:

Sânpetru Formation

Densus Ciula Formation

Sebeș Formation

Sard Formation

Jibou Formation

See also

Islands portal

Hațeg Country Dinosaurs Geopark

Dinosaurs of Romania

Franz Nopcsa

Insular dwarfism

Burma Terrane, another Cretaceous island group with a well-documented insular fauna

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Benton, M.J., Csiki, Z., Grigorescu, D., Redelstorff, R., Sander, P.M., Stein, K., and Weishampel, D.B. (2010). "Dinosaurs and the island rule: The dwarfed dinosaurs from Hațeg Island. Archived 2011-07-10 at the Wayback Machine" Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 293(3-4): 438–454.

doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.05.032
.

^ Grigorescu, D. (2005). "Rediscovery of a 'forgotten land': The last three decades of research on the dinosaur-bearing deposits from the Hațeg Basin". Acta Palaeontologica Romaniae. 5: 191–204.

^ Magazine, Smithsonian. "The Dwarf Dinosaurs of Haţeg Island". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2023-05-04.

ISSN 0031-0182
.

^ Naish, Darren. "Late Cretaceous Animals of Romania's Haţeg Island--a More Complex View". Scientific American Blog Network. Retrieved 2023-05-04.

^ Tom Baird and Richard Conium. "Geology of Hațeg". Paleobiology and Biodiversity Research Group, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol. Retrieved March 16, 2020. It was formed by uplift caused by the closing of the Tethys Ocean by the collision of the African and Eurasian plates

PMID 20805479
.

PMID 28794222
.

PMID 20435913
.

^ Thierry Smith, Codrea Vlad, Red Iron-Pigmented Tooth Enamel in a Multituberculate Mammal from the Late Cretaceous Transylvanian " Hațeg Island ", Article in PLoS ONE 10(7):e0132550-1-16 · July 2015 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0132550

^ Codrea, Vlad; Smith, Thierry; Dica, Paul; Folie, Annelise; Garcia, Géraldine; Godefroit, Pascal; Van Itterbeeck, Jimmy (2002). "Dinosaur egg nests, mammals and other vertebrates from a new Maastrichtian site of the Hațeg Basin (Romania)". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 1 (3): 173–180. doi:10.1016/S1631-0683(02)00021-0. ISSN 1631-0683.

doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.10.027.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
)

ISSN 0003-0082
.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hațeg Island.

Late Cretaceous Animals of Romania's Haţeg Island--a More Complex View

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hațeg_Island&oldid=1214716449"

[bentonetal2010-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Benton, M.J., Csiki, Z., Grigorescu, D., Redelstorff, R., Sander, P.M., Stein, K., and Weishampel, D.B. (2010). "Dinosaurs and the island rule: The dwarfed dinosaurs from Hațeg Island. Archived 2011-07-10 at the Wayback Machine" Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 293(3-4): 438–454.

[2] :10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.05.032
.

[3] Grigorescu, D. (2005). "Rediscovery of a 'forgotten land': The last three decades of research on the dinosaur-bearing deposits from the Hațeg Basin". Acta Palaeontologica Romaniae. 5: 191–204.

[4] Magazine, Smithsonian. "The Dwarf Dinosaurs of Haţeg Island". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2023-05-04.

[5] ISSN 0031-0182
.

[6] Naish, Darren. "Late Cretaceous Animals of Romania's Haţeg Island--a More Complex View". Scientific American Blog Network. Retrieved 2023-05-04.

[7] Tom Baird and Richard Conium. "Geology of Hațeg". Paleobiology and Biodiversity Research Group, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol. Retrieved March 16, 2020. It was formed by uplift caused by the closing of the Tethys Ocean by the collision of the African and Eurasian plates

[8] PMID 20805479
.

[9] PMID 28794222
.

[10] PMID 20435913
.

[11] Thierry Smith, Codrea Vlad, Red Iron-Pigmented Tooth Enamel in a Multituberculate Mammal from the Late Cretaceous Transylvanian " Hațeg Island ", Article in PLoS ONE 10(7):e0132550-1-16 · July 2015 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0132550

[12] Codrea, Vlad; Smith, Thierry; Dica, Paul; Folie, Annelise; Garcia, Géraldine; Godefroit, Pascal; Van Itterbeeck, Jimmy (2002). "Dinosaur egg nests, mammals and other vertebrates from a new Maastrichtian site of the Hațeg Basin (Romania)". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 1 (3): 173–180. doi:10.1016/S1631-0683(02)00021-0. ISSN 1631-0683.

[13] :10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.10.027.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
)

[14] ISSN 0003-0082
.

[7]

[8]

[1]

[12]

[13]

[14]