Stegosaurus found in Europe

A Stegosaurus fossil has been discovered in Europe, marking the first time the famous plated dinosaur has been found outside of North America.

The find supports a widely accepted idea that the two continents were once connected by a series of temporary land bridges which surfaced when sea levels dipped, allowing dinosaurs to cross.

"Both coasts were very close and the basins between them could emerge occasionally," said study leader Fernando Escaso of the Autonomous University of Madrid in Spain.

During the first half of the dinosaurs' 185-million-year reign on Earth, all of the world's continents were clumped together into one giant landmass called Pangaea.

At the end of the Jurassic Period, about 150 million years ago, the supercontinent began slowly splintering: North America, Europe and Africa began to drift apart, and in the widening rift between them, the Atlantic Ocean was born.