The hadrosauroid dinosaur Telmatosaurus was another resident of Hațeg Island, and while it wasn’t quite as small or specialized as its cousin Tethyshadros it was still dwarfed compared to their other relatives, only growing to about 5m long (16’4″).
It was also the first dinosaur fossil found with a specific type of non-cancerous tumor known as an ameloblastoma on its lower jaw – a surprising discovery, since ameloblastomas were previously only known to occur in mammals and a single snake species. Various other types of abnormal tissue growth have been identified in other hadrosauroids and hadrosaurs, however, suggesting that this particular lineage of dinosaurs may have been unusually susceptible to developing tumors.
