Dinosaurs flourished in Europe right up until the asteroid impact that wiped them out 66 million years ago, a new study shows.

Pictured is the evolution of the European continental ecosystems around the time dinosaurs went extinct. The diverse vertebrates of the latest Cretaceous are shown, with dinosaurs in France, crocodiles in Hungary and other mammals almost wiped out (bottom image), with a few groups surviving into the Paleogene (top image)
It claims to address speculation about whether the sudden decline of dinosaurs in the American and Canadian west was merely a local story. 
By looking at the variety and ages of these fossils, a team of researchers led by Zoltán Csiki-Sava of the University of Bucharest, determined that dinosaurs remained diverse in European ecosystems very late into the Cretaceous.
The Cretaceous is known for being the last portion of the 'Age of Dinosaurs' and lasted 79 million years, ending 65.5 million years ago.
In the Pyrenees of Spain and France, the best area in Europe for finding latest Cretaceous dinosaurs, meat and plant-eating species are present and seemingly flourishing during the final few hundred thousand years before the asteroid hit.

The new study suggests that European dinosaurs were thriving up to the asteroid impact. In this artist's depiction, a Daspletosaurus (predator on the left) attacks a herd of Centrosaurus during the Cretaceous
Dr Csiki-Sava said 'For a long time, Europe was overshadowed by other continents when the understanding of the nature, composition and evolution of latest Cretaceous continental ecosystems was concerned. 
'The last 25 years witnessed a huge effort across all Europe to improve our knowledge, and now we are on the brink of fathoming the significance of these new discoveries, and of the strange and new story they tell about life at the end of the Dinosaur Era.'
Dr Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences , an author on the report, added: 'Everyone knows that an asteroid hit 66 million years ago and dinosaurs disappeared, but this story is mostly based on fossils from one part of the world, North America.
'We now know that European dinosaurs were thriving up to the asteroid impact, just like in North America. This is strong evidence that the asteroid really did kill off dinosaurs in their prime, all over the world at once.'
DINOSAURS WERE KILLED BY 'COLOSSAL BAD LUCK'
For years scientists have debated whether an asteroid, climate change or a combination of catastrophes were responsible for the demise of dinosaurs.
But last year, a study claimed that the majority of the prehistoric creatures were wiped out by a perfect storm of ‘colossal bad luck’.
Dinosaurs might have survived the asteroid strike that led to their extinction if it had come slightly earlier or later in history, scientists said. 
But when the six-mile-wide (10km) asteroid hit what is now Mexico approximately 66 million years ago, dinosaurs were experiencing environmental upheaval, which left them vulnerable.
The study by an international team of palaeontologists led by the University of Edinburgh looked at an updated catalogue of dinosaur fossils, mostly from North America.
They found that widespread volcanic activity, changing sea levels and varying temperatures had weakened the dinosaurs’ food chain when disaster struck.
If the asteroid impact had come a few million years earlier, when the range of species was bigger and food chains more robust, they may have survived, according to the study.