Craspedodon

Craspedodon Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, Santonian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Tooth from the holotype of C. lonzeensis
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Dinosauria
Clade:	†Ornithischia
Clade:	†Neornithischia
Clade:	†Ceratopsia
Clade:	†Neoceratopsia (?)
Genus:	†Craspedodon Dollo, 1883
Type species
†Craspedodon lonzeensis Dollo, 1883
Synonyms
Craspedon Galton, 1980

Craspedodon (meaning 'edge tooth') is an extinct genus of ceratopsian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Glauconie de Lonzée Formation of Belgium. Only a single species, C. lonzeensis, is known.[1]

Discovery and naming

IRSN R 59 (left), a tooth from ISRNB R. 58 (middle) and IRSN R 105 (right)

The holotype, specimen IRSNB R. 58, which consists of two teeth, the paratype, specimen IRSN R 105, a tooth, and a referred specimen, IRSN R 59, a tooth, were all discovered in the Glauconie de Lonzée Formation, in Belgium.[2]

The teeth were initially compared to those of Iguanodon, and the species Craspedodon lonzeensis was named and described by Louis Dollo in 1883,[1] although it is considered a nomen dubium.[2]

Classification

Craspedodon was long thought to be an iguanodontian, but Godefroit & Lambert (2007) suggested that it was actually a neoceratopsian, perhaps closer to Ceratopsoidea than Protoceratopsidae.[2]

If the reidentification is correct, Craspedodon would be the first neoceratopsian known from Europe.[2]

See also

• Timeline of ceratopsian research

References

1. Dollo, L. (1883). "Note sur les restes de dinosauriens rencontrées dans le Crétacé supérieure de la Belgique", Bulletin du Musée royale d' Histoire naturelle de Belgique, 2: 205–221
2. Godefroit, Pascal; Lambert, Olivier (2007). "A re-appraisal of Craspedodon lonzeensis Dollo, 1883 from the Upper Cretaceous of Belgium: the first record of a neoceratopsian dinosaur in Europe?". Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Sciences de la Terre. 77: 83–93.