Part of the expedition team (from left to right): Assoc. Prof. Docho Dochev, Asst. Prof. Vladimir Nikolov, Prof. Marlena Yaneva and Georgi Sevov. Photo: Latinka Hristova
The eighth palaeontological expedition of the National Museum of Natural History at BAS to the locality of dinosaurs and other vertebrates of Late Cretaceous age near the town of Tran which took place from 28 July to 5 August finished with new dinosaur finds.
The leader of the expedition, Assoc. Prof. Latinka Hristova from NMNHS-BAS, found an almost completely preserved dinosaur rib; the length of the fossil bone is about 50 centimeters. Prof. Marlena Yaneva (“Strashimir Dimitrov” Geological Institute – BAS), Assoc. Prof. Docho Dochev (Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”), Asst. Prof. Vladimir Nikolov (NMNHS-BAS), students Georgi Sevov and Martin Chavdarov and PhD student from the Institute of Mineralogy and Crystallography of BAS Gergana Velyanova also took part in the expedition.
About 30 new vertebrate fossil remains were discovered this year. Among the finds are pieces of bones of various sizes, including one that probably belongs to a dinosaur, several larger fragments of turtle skulls, about a half-dozen teeth from two species of crocodilians, a tooth, a vertebra and several scales from placoderm gars, fragments of amphibian bones and more. Palaeontologists also collected a variety of fossil seeds and nuts which would reveal more about the features of the local flora during the Late Cretaceous in the future.
A dinosaur rib in the sedimentary rock that contains it. Photo: Latinka Hristova
In addition to the work in the field, the team of Assoc. Prof. Hristova also carried out field prospecting in palaeontologically promising Upper Cretaceous rock sequences that were exposed between the towns of Tran and Breznik. Although no vertebrate remains were found during these walkovers, palaeontologists collected rare specimens of fossil flora (leaf imprints) of Late Cretaceous (Late Campanian) age. These finds are encouraging because they suggest that future fossils may also harbor terrestrial animal bones. Recently, fossils of several species of dinosaurs, crocodiles and mammals have been found in rocks of the same age in neighbouring Serbia. The search of Bulgarian palaeontologists will continue and will reveal more and more secrets about the history of our lands.
