Named Obelignathus septimanicus, the new species inhabited the European Archipelago around 72 million years ago (Cretaceous period) and belonged to a family of iguanodontian ornithopod dinosaurs called Rhabdodontidae.
Life restoration of Obelignathus septimanicus in the Late Cretaceous environment recorded in the ‘Grès à Reptiles’ Formation, with a pair of dromaeosaurid dinosaurs in the background. Image credit: Edyta Felcyn-Kowalska.
Rhabdodontid dinosaurs were small- to medium-sized, probably habitually bipedal herbivores between 2 and 6 m (6.6-20 feet) in length.
These dinosaurs were characterized by a rather stocky build, with strong hind limbs, short forelimbs, a long tail and a comparatively large, triangular skull that tapers anteriorly and ends in a pointy snout.
They inhabited the Late Cretaceous European Archipelago, an extensive archipelago with numerous small and large islands situated in a shallow tropical sea.
Currently, the family comprises less than ten species, which have been found in southern France, northern Spain, eastern Austria, western Hungary and western Romania.
“Rhabdodontids are commonly considered to represent a group of small to medium-sized ornithischian dinosaurs endemic for the Late Cretaceous European Archipelago,” said Dr. Łukasz Czepiński and Dr. Daniel Madzia, both from the Institute of Paleobiology at the Polish Academy of Sciences.
“Eight to nine distinct species are currently recognized based on specimens unearthed from eastern Austria, southern France, western Hungary, western Romania, and northern Spain.”
“Still, the understanding of the diversity of Rhabdodontidae and their intrarelationships remains far from complete.”
The fossilized remains of Obelignathus septimanicus — a right dentary — were found in the ‘Grès à Reptiles’ Formation in southern France.
The specimen was previously assigned to a species named ‘Rhabdodon’ septimanicus.
“Rhabdodon septimanicus is a poorly known species from the Upper Campanian to Lower Maastrichtian of southern France,” the paleontologists said.
“It was established based on a particularly robust dentary bone that has been subjected to conflicting taxonomic interpretations.”
“Our restudy of the specimen, combined with a multivariate and phylogenetic assessment, shows that this species is a clear morphological outlier among European rhabdodontomorphs, providing a basis for its assignment to a new genus, Obelignathus.”
“Although further large-scale studies, especially detailed osteological descriptions, are needed to clarify the taxonomic significance of certain European rhabdodontomorphs, our results indicate that the group exhibits greater diversity than currently recognized, with several sympatric species co-occurring, at least in southern France and possibly also in Romania.”
The team’s paper was published this week in the journal Scientific Reports.
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Ł. Czepiński & D. Madzia. 2025. Exploring the diversity and disparity of rhabdodontomorph ornithopods from the Late Cretaceous European archipelago. Sci Rep 15, 15209; doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-98083-z
