Owenodon
Encyclopedia
Owenodon is a genus
of iguanodontian dinosaur
known from a partial lower jaw discovered in Early Cretaceous
-age rocks of Durlston Bay
, Dorset
, United Kingdom
. The specimen, NHM
R2998, comes from the Purbeck Limestone, dating to the middle Berriasian
stage (approximately 143 million years ago). It was first described by Richard Owen
, who in 1874 assigned it to Iguanodon
as the type specimen
of the new species I. hoggii, the specific name honouring naturalist A.J. Hogg who had originally collected the fossil in 1860. The bone was damaged during initial preparation but was freed from the surrounding rock matrix by an acid bath
between 1975 and 1977. David Norman and Paul Barrett subsequently transferred the species to Camptosaurus
in 2002, but this was challenged, and in 2009 Peter Galton
assigned the species to the new genus Owenodon. Galton interpreted the genus as an iguanodontoid more derived
than Camptosaurus but less derived than Lurdusaurus
.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of iguanodontian dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
known from a partial lower jaw discovered in Early Cretaceous
Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous or the Lower Cretaceous , is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous...
-age rocks of Durlston Bay
Durlston Bay
Durlston Bay is a small bay next to a country park of the same name, just south of the resort of Swanage, on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England...
, Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The specimen, NHM
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
R2998, comes from the Purbeck Limestone, dating to the middle Berriasian
Berriasian
In the geological timescale, the Berriasian is an age or stage of the Early or Lower Creteceous. It is the oldest or lowest subdivision in the entire Cretaceous. It spanned between 145.5 ± 4.0 Ma and 140.2 ± 3.0 Ma...
stage (approximately 143 million years ago). It was first described by Richard Owen
Richard Owen
Sir Richard Owen, FRS KCB was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist.Owen is probably best remembered today for coining the word Dinosauria and for his outspoken opposition to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection...
, who in 1874 assigned it to Iguanodon
Iguanodon
Iguanodon is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived roughly halfway between the first of the swift bipedal hypsilophodontids and the ornithopods' culmination in the duck-billed dinosaurs...
as the type specimen
Holotype
A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...
of the new species I. hoggii, the specific name honouring naturalist A.J. Hogg who had originally collected the fossil in 1860. The bone was damaged during initial preparation but was freed from the surrounding rock matrix by an acid bath
Acid Bath
Acid Bath was a seminal American sludge metal band from Houma, Louisiana that was active from 1991 to 1997. Acid Bath combined doom metal roots with influences from black metal, death metal, gothic rock, blues, folk, and country...
between 1975 and 1977. David Norman and Paul Barrett subsequently transferred the species to Camptosaurus
Camptosaurus
Camptosaurus is a genus of plant-eating, beaked ornithischian dinosaurs of the Late Jurassic period of western North America. The name means 'flexible lizard', ....
in 2002, but this was challenged, and in 2009 Peter Galton
Peter Galton
Peter M. Galton is a British vertebrate paleontologist working in America, who has to date written or co-written about a hundred papers in scientific journals or chapters in paleontology textbooks, especially on ornithischian and prosauropod dinosaurs.With Robert Bakker in a joint article...
assigned the species to the new genus Owenodon. Galton interpreted the genus as an iguanodontoid more derived
Derived
In phylogenetics, a derived trait is a trait that is present in an organism, but was absent in the last common ancestor of the group being considered. This may also refer to structures that are not present in an organism, but were present in its ancestors, i.e. traits that have undergone secondary...
than Camptosaurus but less derived than Lurdusaurus
Lurdusaurus
Lurdusaurus is a genus of large ornithopod dinosaur which lived in the Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous, sometime between 121 to 112 million years ago.-Discovery and naming:...
.