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The largest flying dinosaur, displayed at the Bucharest's 'Grigore Antipa' Museum of Natural Science
The largest flying dinosaur in the world known so far, Hatzegopteryx thambema, unearthed on Romania's territory and reproduced in size has been displayed as a first within the exhibition 'Wings over time' open at the Bucharest's 'Grigore Antipa' Museum of Natural Science.
"Hatzegopteryx is a pterosaur or a flying reptile that is part of a separate category as compared to the dinosaurs and that was contemporary to the dinosaurs during the Mesozoic era. The discovery itself has an exceptional value, worldly, because it represents the largest flying reptile ever and our pride, our complete patriotism is that it has been unearthed in Romania, in the wonderful land of the Hateg," said professor Dan Grigorescu, the one who has made the discovery.
He specified that the pterosaur was unearthed 44 years ago near the village of Valioara, in the Land of Hateg, and it is only in 2002, after researches that it has been fully identified.
"The unearthing of the Hatzegopteryx, beyond the striking fact, its huge dimensions, is a fact of the evolution in remote, secluded environments, a paradox of the evolution in which a giant, generated by the conditions of insularity has lived alongside the dinosaurs which were all smaller than their blood in other regions, the so-called dwarf dinosaurs of Transylvania. So, the largest flying reptile next to a fauna dominated by dwarf dinosaurs. The discloser took place many years ago, 44 years to be more exact since we have unearthed it in a village near the Hateg land, not in Hateg, but at Valioara. Why so many years - because the first researches based on the items exhibited and in particular on the back side of the skull - the occipital region - indicate the presence of a large carnivorous dinosaur, a sort of Transylvanian Tyrannosaurus. (...) It was only in 2002, following the researches unfolded that we made it to identify it, to name it Hatzegopteryx thambema, in translation 'The fearsome flying of Hateg', added Dan Grigorescu.
Hatzegopteryx thambema has had a skull between 1.5 and 2 metres, and a wingspan of approximately 12 metres, said lecturer Zoltan Csiki-Sava, the one who was part of the researchers team of professor Dan Grigorescu.
The exhibition will be open until 14 August, after which the exhibits will be moved and displayed to the Dino Parc Rasnov.