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Concept
Hatzegopteryx
Summary
Hatzegopteryx ("Hațeg basin wing") is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur found in the late Maastrichtian deposits of the Densuş Ciula Formation, an outcropping in Transylvania, Romania. It is known only from the type species, Hatzegopteryx thambema, named by Buffetaut et al. in 2002 based on parts of the skull and humerus. Additional specimens, including a neck vertebra, were later placed in the genus, representing a range of sizes. The largest of these remains indicate it was among the biggest pterosaurs, with an estimated wingspan of .
Unusually among giant azhdarchids, Hatzegopteryx had a very wide skull bearing large muscular attachments, bones with a spongy internal texture instead of being hollow, and a short, robust, and heavily muscled neck measuring long, which was about half the length of other azhdarchids with comparable wingspans and was capable of withstanding strong bending forces. Hatzegopteryx inhabited Hațeg Island, an island situated in the Cretaceous subtropics within the prehistoric Tethys Sea. In the absence of large theropods, Hatzegopteryx was likely the apex predator of Hațeg Island, tackling proportionally larger prey (including dwarf titanosaurs and iguanodontians) than other azhdarchids.
The first pterosaur remains from Romania were identified by Franz Nopcsa in 1899, and the first remains of Hatzegopteryx were found during a student dig during the late 1970s from the upper part of the Middle Densuş Ciula Formation of Vălioara, northwestern Hațeg Basin, Transylvania, western Romania, which has been dated to the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, around 66 million years ago. The holotype of Hatzegopteryx, FGGUB R 1083A, consists of two fragments from the back of the skull and the damaged proximal part of a left humerus. One of these fragments, namely the occipital region, was initially referred to a theropod dinosaur when it was first announced in 1991. A long midsection of a femur found nearby, FGGUB R1625, may also belong to Hatzegopteryx.
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