Giant Flying Reptiles Ruled Ancient Transylvania

Dr Witton said that Hatzegopteryx lived in a peculiar island ecosystem where many of the dinosaurs were dwarfed or belonged to relict lineages extinct in the rest of the Cretaceous world. “Ancient Transylvania was a strange place for a number of reasons, including the fact that we’ve yet to find evidence of large predatory animals that lived alongside Hatzegopteryx, such as giant carnivorous dinosaurs. This is despite centuries of sampling.”

The study thus potentially provides an answer to a mystery about life in Late Cretaceous Romania.

“Perhaps without large predators to challenge them, this island provided an opportunity for giant pterosaurs – already formidable animals – to become the dominant predators,” said Dr Witton.

“The finer details of ecology and lifestyle for Hatzegopteryx remain unknown because we’re still working from scraps of its skeleton, but the emerging picture of its lifestyle are fascinating. In some respects our unexpected findings highlight how little we actually know about these animals. We’ve had these scrappy remains for years, but we need to ask the right questions, and perform the right tests, to realise their significance. Future giant pterosaur research and discoveries almost certainly have many more surprises for us.”

The research was published in PeerJ: https://peerj.com/articles/2908/
Read more on Dr Witton’s blog: http://markwitton-com.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/new-paper-when-short-necked-giant.html