New theropod dinosaur material from the Haţeg Basin (Late Cretaceous, Western Romania)

New dinosaur material from the Upper Cretaceous of the Haţeg Basin of western Romania consists of a partial skull roof of a small theropod. These specimens (a frontal and fused parietals) are described and subjected to phylogenetic analyses. On the basis of a cladistic analysis, this Haţeg theropod material is referable to Dromaeosauridae (thereby extending the stratigraphic range of the clade to the latest Cretaceous). Within this clade, it appears to have a close relationship with Saurornitholestes langstoni. The paleobiogeographic implications of the Haţeg dromaeosaurid on European, North American, and Asia origins for the clade are discussed, as is the idea that the Late Cretaceous islands of Europe acted as a refugium for the last known dromaeosaurids.