Zalmoxes

Named after Zalmoxis, a Dacian deity

• Zalmoxis · Dacian/Thracian (via Greek) · a Dacian god or legendary figure

Zalmoxes is named after Zalmoxis, a god (or semi-legendary figure) of the ancient Dacians, who lived in the region that is now Romania. Baron Franz Nopcsa chose the name for a dinosaur from his home region of Transylvania, so it honours local history and mythology rather than a feature of the animal's body.

Named by

Nopcsa

Year named

1902

Period

Late Cretaceous

Stage

Maastrichtian

Found in

Hațeg Basin (Sânpetru Formation), Transylvania, Romania

A rhabdodontid ornithopod, a stocky plant-eating dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous island fauna of the Hațeg Basin. The type species is Z. robustus. Other species have been assigned to the genus.