Romanian palaeontologists have discovered fossils belonging to a previously unknown species of duck-billed dinosaur (hadrosaur) in the Carpathian Mountains region of Romania.
The discovery has enabled the description of a new dinosaur species that lived approximately 70 million years ago on the islands of ancient Europe's archipelago, and has also corrected a scientific classification that had been accepted in palaeontology for decades.
The dinosaur remains were found, according to Russia Today, in the Haţeg Basin near the village of Valioara in Romania, which during the Cretaceous period formed part of an extensive island system.
The specimen was distinguished by an exceptional state of preservation compared with most similar finds, comprising a skull, parts of the ribs, tail vertebrae, and a portion of the hind limb.
Near-complete hadrosaur skeletons from this region are exceedingly rare, lending the specimen considerable scientific importance.