Zalmoxes is a rather small genus of bipedal herbivore with a large triangular head and a beak. An unnamed species of
Zalmoxes, is known from larger sizes, with an adult in length. Although Nopcsa thought the small size of
Zalmoxes was due to
island dwarfism,
Attila Ösi and colleagues found it was closer to the size of the rhabdodontid ancestor, with larger
Rhabdodon and smaller
Mochlodon having
island gigantism and island dwarfism respectively. However, when the species of
Zalmoxes are taken into account separately, it can be seen than
Z. shqiperorum continued the general size trend from
Orodromeus to
Tenontosaurus, while
Z. robustus may have had slight nanism.
Z. robustus is known from about 80% of the
skull. However, no complete
articulated skull is known, and most of the bones do not overlap and are found in isolation. Weishampel et al. found that these likely represented one individual, as the bones were from the same
formation and are the same colour. Four individuals were identified by Nopcsa for
Z. robustus, and from these it can be seen that there is skeletal variation in the species. Like with the cranial material, vertebrae of
Z. robustus are often found isolated. All regions of the
vertebral column are represented in the fossil record, although no
sternal plates have been found yet. The
sacrum includes three vertebrae, with two sacrodorsals (dorsal vertebrae in the sacrum) and three sacrocaudals (caudal vertebrae in the sacrum). The limb and girdle bones are also well represented, with only the hands (
manus) and feet (
pes) mostly lacking. While more poorly known than
Z. robustus,
Z. shqiperorum is still known from a relatively large amount of the skeleton. Only two mostly complete skeletons are known, the
holotype adult, and a referred juvenile. The lower jaw (
dentary) of
Z. shqiperorum is relatively shorter than the equivalent in
Z. robustus, although it is much larger. Ossified
tendons are known from the juvenile specimen, showing that they were circular or elliptical in cross section and have fine
striations in
Z. shqiperorum. Cervical, dorsal and caudal vertebrae are known from
Z. shqiperorum, although the former two are only represented by juvenile material. A complete articulated sacrum is known for
Z. shqiperorum, with three vertebrae and at least two sacrodorsals. No manual material is known from the species, although a
metatarsal and a few
phalanges are known. == Classification ==