Outline: a typical theropod
Balaur
"dragon"
- Lived
- 72 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Group
- Theropods, Dromaeosauridae
- Found in
- Romania
- Named by
- Csiki et al. 2010
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
Field notes
About Balaur
What it was like
Balaur was a stocky feathered theropod with two large claws on each foot instead of one. It was first thought to be a relative of Velociraptor, but many scientists now think it was a flightless relative of the earliest birds.
Its world
It lived about 72 to 66 million years ago, at the end of the Late Cretaceous, in what is now Romania. The region was then an island, home to small dinosaurs such as the dwarf titanosaur Magyarosaurus and the plant eaters Zalmoxes and Telmatosaurus.
How it was found
Csiki and colleagues named it in 2010. Its name comes from a dragon of local folklore.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Dromaeosauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: Z. Csiki, M. Vremir, and S. L. Brusatte, M. A. Norell. 2010. An aberrant island-dwelling theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Romania. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(35):15357-15361