Outline: a typical ornithopod
Telmatosaurus
"marsh lizard"
- Lived
- 72 to 66 million years ago, Late Cretaceous
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Length
- about 5 m (16 ft)
- Group
- Ornithopods, Telmatosauridae
- Found in
- Romania
- Named by
- Nopcsa 1903
Size comparison
To scale
Scale in metersOutline: typical ornithopod shape
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
70 million years ago
Also reported from France.
Field notes
About Telmatosaurus
What it was like
Telmatosaurus was a relative of the duckbills, about 5 meters (16 feet) long. It was small for its group. Scientists think it lived on an island and, like other animals there, evolved a smaller body.
Its world
It lived about 72 to 66 million years ago, near the end of the Cretaceous, in what is now Romania. The island world it lived in was home to the small plant eater Zalmoxes, the dwarf sauropod Magyarosaurus, the armored Struthiosaurus and the small predator Balaur.
How it was found
Nopcsa named Telmatosaurus in 1903. About twenty finds are known, including eggs and young that may belong to it.
Lived alongside
Found in the same rock formations
Close relatives
Other members of Telmatosauridae
Sources: WikidataNamed in: B. F. Nopcsa. 1903. Telmatosaurus, new name for the dinosaur Limnosaurus. Geological Magazine, decade 4 10:94-95