Zalmoxes details: abstract, derivation

["bh480@scn.org" <bh480@scn.org>]

From: Ben Creisler bh480@scn.org
Zalmoxes details: abstract, type species, derivation

Although the description of Zalmoxes has been out for a couple of months,
it appears that some of the details may not have been posted here yet.

Weishampel, D. B.,  C.-M. Jianu, Z. Csiki & D. B. Norman, 2003. Osteology
and phylogeny of Zalmoxes (n.g.), an unusual euornithopod dinosaur from the
latest Cretaceous of Romania. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 1(2):
65-123.
ABSTRACT:
The dinosaurs of the Hatzeg Basin of Transylvania (late Maastrichtian;
western Romania) include Theropoda, Sauropoda, Ornithopoda and
Ankylosauria. Of these, one of the most enigmatic taxa is the ornithopod
that Franz Baron Nopcsa originally described as Mochlodon suessi and M.
robustus in 1902. These two species have come to be regarded as a single
species of Rhabdodon, R. robustus, which is distinct from R. priscus from
the Late Cretaceous of southern France and northern Spain.

This study provides a detailed anatomical revision of the Rhabdodon
material that was described originally by Nopsca during the early decades
of the 20th century. It also adds information on material discovered in the
Hatzeg area of Romania since the 1930s. A phylogenetic analysis of basal
euornithopods indicates that the non-hadrosaurid material from Hatzeg
comprises two distinct, but congeneric, species. These two species can be
distinguished unambiguously from R. priscus. A new genus Zalmoxes is
established for the Romanian ornithopod, comprising Z. robustus comb. nov.
(the type species of the genus) and Z. shqiperorum, sp. nov.

Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the two species of Zalmoxes and R.
priscus are united in the monophyletic clade Rhabdodontidae (nov.).
Rhabdodontidae constitutes the sibling clade to Iguanodontia. R.
septimanicus, M. suessi, and the Villeveyrac Rhabdodon also appear to be
members of the Rhabdodontidae. The evolutionary implications of this
phylogenetic analysis include the recognition of a ghost lineage, extending
from the most recent common ancestor of Rhabdodontidae and Iguanodontia,
which extends for 73 million years. This extraordinarily long ghost lineage
duration may reflect considerable gaps in the history of this group or the
geographical isolation of Rhabdodontidae in Europe during much of the
Cretaceous period. The area of origin of the Rhabdodontidae + Iguanodontia
clade may be North America, while the common ancestor of Rhabdodontidae
dispersed to Europe, at that time a marine-dominated region with
tectonically-active terrestrial habitats. Adult individuals of Z. robustus
are smaller than either of its two closest relatives, Z. shqiperorum and R.
priscus, within the Rhabdodontidae, or with many species of Iguanodontia
and, therefore, is considered a possible paedomorphic dwarf.


Zalmoxes gen. nov.
TYPE-SPECIES. Mochodon robustus Nopcsa 1902a
DERIVATION OF NAME: Zalmoxes (alternative spelling Zalmoxis) is said to
have been the slave of Pythagoras who, upon being freed, travelled to Dacia
(ancient Romania) and became a teacher, healer, vegetarian and high priest.
He was later deified by the Dacians as a god of The Mystery, ecstasy, the
underworld and immortality (Eliade 1972). The relevance of the name for
this dinosaur is its Dacian origin and the face that the 'subterranean
crypt' of this herbivore was originally opened and that (taxonomic)
immortality then came from Nopcsa'a original work.

Zalmoxes robustus (Nopcsa 1902a) comb. nov.
SYNONMY. Mochlodon robustum (corrected to robustus) Nopcsa 1902a partim;
Rhabdodon robustus Nopsca 1915 partim.
HOLOTYPE: BMNH R.3392; a right dentary.

Zalmoxes shqiperorum spec. nov.
HOLOTYPE: BMNH R.4900, left dentary, sacrum, right scapula, right
coracorid, particle ?left ilium, right ischium, left distal ischium, left
femur.
DERIVATION OF NAME: Named for the people of Shqiperia, thet Albanians' own
name for their land. Shqiperia was probably derived from the Albanian
'shqipe' (eagle) which, modified to shqipria, became 'the land of the
eagle.' Z. shqiperorum forms a connection between ancient Illyria (Albania)
and Nopcsa's fascination with this land and its tribes, to Geta (Thrace)
and, finally, to Dacia (ancient Romania), the home of Zalmoxes.

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