[D] Balaur bondoc [sG] [T]
Describer
Csiki, Vremir, Brusatte & Norell 2010
Time
Cretaceous Late Maastrichtian
Classification
Saurischia Theropoda Tetanurae Coelurosauria Dromaeosauridae
Diet
Herbivore
Fossilsite
Sebes Formation, Sebeş Glod locality near Sebeş, Alba County, Romania
Info
Holotype:EME (Transylvanian Museum Society, Dept. of Natural Sciences, Cluj-Napoca, Romania) PV.313, an articulated partial postcranial skeleton of a single individual, including dorsal, sacral, and caudal vertebrae and much of the pectoral and pelvic girdles and limbs.
Referred Specimens
FGGUB (Faculty of Geology and Geophysics, University of Bucharest, Bucharest,Romania) R. 1580 (left humerus), R. 1581 (left ulna), R. 1582–1584 (left manual phalanges), R. 1585 (left metacarpal II) likely from the same individual, approximately 45% larger than the holotype
Etymology
Balaur, an archaic Romanian term meaning dragon, and bondoc, meaning stock. Balaur is an archaic Romanian term that designates a mythical ophidian, dragonlike creature, and this word is often used as synonym for dragon in contemporary Romanian. However, the origin of the term “balaur” is complex. Although ophidian characters are usually of evil nature in Romanian mythology, the “balaur,” representing a peculiar metamorphosed snake, has a more ambivalent character. According to Romanian folklore, the genesis of the “balaur” is an exceptional event: “within a certain time period, specifically during reproduction, large numbers of snakes might gather in a remote location. Here, they fight each other, while spitting balls of foam; this foam coalesces and is sprung into a ‘priceless stone’ (sometimes equated with a diamond). This snake gathering is usually called ‘the boiling of the priceless stone.’
One of the snakes (the sharpest, the largest, and/or the more valiant) engulfs the stone and becomes “balaur”, as it grows wings and flies up to the sky” (Coman, 1996, p. 209). An alternative myth holds that the origin of the “balaur” is traced back to a snake that enters ascetic seclusion for seven years. If it manages to complete the magical seven years unseen by human eyes the snake becomes a “balaur”, a winged reptiliomorph creature, master of the storms and repository of great secrets (Coman, 1996). Accordingly, our choice of the name Balaur is motivated both by the classical association between dinosaurs (especially theropods) and dragon-like creatures, as well as by the fact that balaur is a mythological creature with links to both reptiles (snakes) and birds (wings), a “winged reptile” – in other words, a paravian theropod, a group that includes the dromaeosaurid Balaur.
Bondoc is a Romanian folk word used to designate a clumsy, chubby creature (human or animal). The term itself is of Turkish origin (bunduk), and means “small ball”. The specific name alludes both to the small and autapomorphically robust shape of the animal (due to the wide pelvis and increased femoral extensor muscle mass), as well as its Asiatic biogeographical connections (as it is originally a Turkic word).
Horizon and Locality
The type specimen was collected from red floodplain mudstones of the lower-middle part of the Maastrichtian Sebeş Formation, exposed at the Sebeş Glod locality near Sebeş, Alba County, Romania, The referred specimens are from pedogenetically modified, dark red, silty mudstones exposed at the Tuştea dinosaur nesting site, in the middle part of the Maastrichtian Densuş-Ciula Formation, Haţeg Basin, Hunedoara County, Romania.
Diagnosis
Dromaeosaurid theropod with the following autapomorphies (asterisk denotes autapomorphies unique among all theropods): hypertrophied coracoid tubercle*; sinuous ridge on lateral surface of distal humerus extends for 1∕3 of the length of the bone*; prominent ridge on medial surface of distal half of humerus*; anterior surface of ulna flattened and bisected by longitudinal ridge*; fused carpometacarpus; reduced, splint-like metacarpal III*; mc III contacting mc II distally, buttressed by overhanging ridge on mc II*; distal articular surface not extending onto plantar surfaces of metacarpals I and II; manual ungual II with Y-shaped lateral and medial grooves*; phalanges of manual digit III reduced and digit nonfunctional; extremely retroverted pubes and ischia whose long axes are nearly horizontal*; pubic peduncle laterally everted such that broad cuppedicus fossa faces laterally and dorsally*; pubis reoriented so that lateral surface faces ventrally and pubic tubercle located directly below acetabulum*; ischial obturator tuberosity expressed as enlarged, thin flange that contacts or nearly contacts pubis ventrally*; tarsometatarsus substantially wider (1.5×) than distal tibiotarsus*; fused metatarsus (mt II-V); robust ridges on plantar surfaces of metatarsals II-IV*; metatarsals II and III not ginglymoid; articular region of mts II-III narrower than entire distal end*; first digit of pes functional with enlarged phalanges but vestigial metatarsal I*; and short, hook-like mt V.
Csiki, Vremir, Brusatte & Norell 2010
Time
Cretaceous Late Maastrichtian
Classification
Saurischia Theropoda Tetanurae Coelurosauria Dromaeosauridae
Diet
Herbivore
Fossilsite
Sebes Formation, Sebeş Glod locality near Sebeş, Alba County, Romania
Info
Holotype:EME (Transylvanian Museum Society, Dept. of Natural Sciences, Cluj-Napoca, Romania) PV.313, an articulated partial postcranial skeleton of a single individual, including dorsal, sacral, and caudal vertebrae and much of the pectoral and pelvic girdles and limbs.
Referred Specimens
FGGUB (Faculty of Geology and Geophysics, University of Bucharest, Bucharest,Romania) R. 1580 (left humerus), R. 1581 (left ulna), R. 1582–1584 (left manual phalanges), R. 1585 (left metacarpal II) likely from the same individual, approximately 45% larger than the holotype
Etymology
Balaur, an archaic Romanian term meaning dragon, and bondoc, meaning stock. Balaur is an archaic Romanian term that designates a mythical ophidian, dragonlike creature, and this word is often used as synonym for dragon in contemporary Romanian. However, the origin of the term “balaur” is complex. Although ophidian characters are usually of evil nature in Romanian mythology, the “balaur,” representing a peculiar metamorphosed snake, has a more ambivalent character. According to Romanian folklore, the genesis of the “balaur” is an exceptional event: “within a certain time period, specifically during reproduction, large numbers of snakes might gather in a remote location. Here, they fight each other, while spitting balls of foam; this foam coalesces and is sprung into a ‘priceless stone’ (sometimes equated with a diamond). This snake gathering is usually called ‘the boiling of the priceless stone.’
One of the snakes (the sharpest, the largest, and/or the more valiant) engulfs the stone and becomes “balaur”, as it grows wings and flies up to the sky” (Coman, 1996, p. 209). An alternative myth holds that the origin of the “balaur” is traced back to a snake that enters ascetic seclusion for seven years. If it manages to complete the magical seven years unseen by human eyes the snake becomes a “balaur”, a winged reptiliomorph creature, master of the storms and repository of great secrets (Coman, 1996). Accordingly, our choice of the name Balaur is motivated both by the classical association between dinosaurs (especially theropods) and dragon-like creatures, as well as by the fact that balaur is a mythological creature with links to both reptiles (snakes) and birds (wings), a “winged reptile” – in other words, a paravian theropod, a group that includes the dromaeosaurid Balaur.
Bondoc is a Romanian folk word used to designate a clumsy, chubby creature (human or animal). The term itself is of Turkish origin (bunduk), and means “small ball”. The specific name alludes both to the small and autapomorphically robust shape of the animal (due to the wide pelvis and increased femoral extensor muscle mass), as well as its Asiatic biogeographical connections (as it is originally a Turkic word).
Horizon and Locality
The type specimen was collected from red floodplain mudstones of the lower-middle part of the Maastrichtian Sebeş Formation, exposed at the Sebeş Glod locality near Sebeş, Alba County, Romania, The referred specimens are from pedogenetically modified, dark red, silty mudstones exposed at the Tuştea dinosaur nesting site, in the middle part of the Maastrichtian Densuş-Ciula Formation, Haţeg Basin, Hunedoara County, Romania.
Diagnosis
Dromaeosaurid theropod with the following autapomorphies (asterisk denotes autapomorphies unique among all theropods): hypertrophied coracoid tubercle*; sinuous ridge on lateral surface of distal humerus extends for 1∕3 of the length of the bone*; prominent ridge on medial surface of distal half of humerus*; anterior surface of ulna flattened and bisected by longitudinal ridge*; fused carpometacarpus; reduced, splint-like metacarpal III*; mc III contacting mc II distally, buttressed by overhanging ridge on mc II*; distal articular surface not extending onto plantar surfaces of metacarpals I and II; manual ungual II with Y-shaped lateral and medial grooves*; phalanges of manual digit III reduced and digit nonfunctional; extremely retroverted pubes and ischia whose long axes are nearly horizontal*; pubic peduncle laterally everted such that broad cuppedicus fossa faces laterally and dorsally*; pubis reoriented so that lateral surface faces ventrally and pubic tubercle located directly below acetabulum*; ischial obturator tuberosity expressed as enlarged, thin flange that contacts or nearly contacts pubis ventrally*; tarsometatarsus substantially wider (1.5×) than distal tibiotarsus*; fused metatarsus (mt II-V); robust ridges on plantar surfaces of metatarsals II-IV*; metatarsals II and III not ginglymoid; articular region of mts II-III narrower than entire distal end*; first digit of pes functional with enlarged phalanges but vestigial metatarsal I*; and short, hook-like mt V.