Balaur is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period, in what is now Romania. It is the type species of the monotypic genus Balaur, after the balaur (Romanian pronunciation:[baˈla.ur][1]), a dragon of Romanian folklore. The specific name bondoc (Romanian pronunciation:[bonˈdok][2]) means "stocky", so Balaur bondoc means "stocky dragon" in Romanian. This name refers to the greater musculature that Balaur had compared to its relatives. The genus, which was first described by scientists in August 2010, is known from two partial skeletons (including the type specimen).
Fossils of Balaur were found in the Densuș-Ciula and Sebeș Formations of Cretaceous Romania which correspond to Hațeg Island, a subtropical island[3] in the European archipelago of the Tethys sea approximately 70 million years ago. Hațeg Island is commonly referred to as the "Island of the Dwarf Dinosaurs" on account of the extensive fossil evidence that its native dinosaurs exhibited island syndrome, a collection of morphological, ecological, physiological and behavioural differences compared with their continental counterparts. Examples included island gigantism of Hatzegopteryx, island dwarfism of the titanosaur Magyarosaurus dacus, and a reduction in flight capacity in Balaur (Balaur is currently believed to be a basal avialan, a group that includes modern birds, based on phylogenetic analysis, despite being previously grouped within the dromaeosaurid dinosaurs, a group which includes Velociraptor). This reduction in flight capacity is also seen in extant island birds including the ratites and insular barn owls[4] as well as the extinct moa of New Zealand[5] and the extinct dodo of Mauritius.
^Benton, Michael J.; Csiki, Zoltan; Grigorescu, Dan; Redelstorff, Ragna; Sander, P. Martin; Stein, Koen; Weishampel, David B. (15 July 2010). "Dinosaurs and the island rule: The dwarfed dinosaurs from Hațeg Island". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. European island faunas of the Late Cretaceous – The Hațeg Island. 293 (3–4): 438–454. Bibcode:2010PPP...293..438B. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.01.026.
^Roulin, A.; Salamin, N. (19 April 2010). "Insularity and the evolution of melanism, sexual dichromatism and body size in the worldwide-distributed barn owl". Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 23 (5): 925–934. doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.01961.x. PMID 20298444. S2CID 20356466.
^Worthy, T. H.; Scofield, R.P. (2012). "Twenty-first century advances in knowledge of the biology of moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes): a new morphological analysis and moa diagnoses revised". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 39 (2): 87–153. doi:10.1080/03014223.2012.665060. S2CID 83768608.
genus Balaur, after the balaur (Romanian pronunciation: [baˈla.ur]), a dragon of Romanian folklore. The specific name bondoc (Romanian pronunciation:...
cognate with balaur, and is regarded as one of the few pre-Slavic Balkan relict words in Serbo-Croatian. The maniraptor theropod Balaurbondoc is named after...
gigantism, in this case to fill the otherwise empty niche of apex predator. Balaurbondoc was originally classified as a dromaeosaurid dinosaur based on its retractable...
dataset from Longrich and Currie (2009). Velociraptor osmolskae and Balaurbondoc were added, Itemirus was excluded (following its identification as a...
phylogenetic affinities of the bizarre Late Cretaceous Romanian theropod Balaurbondoc (Dinosauria, Maniraptora): dromaeosaurid or flightless bird?". PeerJ...
phylogenetic affinities of the bizarre Late Cretaceous Romanian theropod Balaurbondoc (Dinosauria, Maniraptora): dromaeosaurid or flightless bird?". PeerJ...
phylogenetic affinities of the bizarre Late Cretaceous Romanian theropod Balaurbondoc(Dinosauria, Maniraptora): Dromaeosaurid or flightless bird?". PeerJ...
large-bodied predatory eudromaeosaurs. One possible dromaeosaurid species, Balaurbondoc, also possessed a first toe which was highly modified in parallel with...
has a prominent flexor heel, a trait shared by the Romanian paravian Balaurbondoc. Before Imperobator was officially described, a paper published in 2007...
Balaurbondoc, possessed a first toe which was highly modified in parallel with the second. Both the first and second toes on each foot of B. bondoc were...
Watanabe, A.; Erickson, G. M.; Norell, M. A. (2013). "The osteology of Balaurbondoc, an island-dwelling dromaeosaurid (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the late...
also be a non-avian deinonychosaur closely related to dromaeosaurids. Balaurbondoc: A strange paravian that possessed a suite of unique features, such...
phylogenetic affinities of the bizarre Late Cretaceous Romanian theropod Balaurbondoc(Dinosauria, Maniraptora): Dromaeosaurid or flightless bird?". PeerJ...
phylogenetic affinities of the bizarre Late Cretaceous Romanian theropod Balaurbondoc(Dinosauria, Maniraptora): Dromaeosaurid or flightless bird?". PeerJ...
Cumnoria prestwichii and Uteodon aphanoecetes to the genus Camptosaurus. Balaurbondoc, originally interpreted as a member of Dromaeosauridae, is argued to...
phylogenetic affinities of the bizarre Late Cretaceous Romanian theropod Balaurbondoc (Dinosauria, Maniraptora): Dromaeosaurid or flightless bird?". PeerJ...
†Anchiornis huxleyi Xu et al. 2009 †Aurornis xui Godefroit et al. 2013 †Balaurbondoc Csiki et al. 2010 †Jixiangornis orientalis Ji et al. 2002 †Xiaotingia...
phylogenetic affinities of the bizarre Late Cretaceous Romanian theropod Balaurbondoc (Dinosauria, Maniraptora): Dromaeosaurid or flightless bird?". PeerJ...
river basins of the western shore of the Western Interior Seaway. †Balaur †Balaurbondoc 70 Ma Sebes Formation, Alba County Romania An avialian from Romania...
phylogenetic affinities of the bizarre Late Cretaceous Romanian theropod Balaurbondoc (Dinosauria, Maniraptora): Dromaeosaurid or flightless bird?". PeerJ...
phylogenetic affinities of the bizarre Late Cretaceous Romanian theropod Balaurbondoc (Dinosauria, Maniraptora): dromaeosaurid or flightless bird?". PeerJ...
phylogenetic affinities of the bizarre Late Cretaceous Romanian theropod Balaurbondoc(Dinosauria, Maniraptora): Dromaeosaurid or flightless bird?". PeerJ...
seen in other coelurosaurs such as the tyrannosaurids, the avialan Balaurbondoc, and caudipterid oviraptorosaurs. The describers' phylogenetic analysis...
Territory An Accipitridae, the oldest Aquila species is in Australia. Balaurbondoc Valid Gen. nov. et Sp. nov. Csiki Vremir et al. Late Cretaceous: Maastrichtian...
enantiornithean, one study finds it to be a more basal avialan closely related to Balaurbondoc. Gareth J. Dyke; Attila Ősi (2010). "A review of Late Cretaceous fossil...
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