Matheronodon
"Matheron tooth"
- Length
- 5 m (16.4 ft)
- Period
- Cretaceous (145–66 Mya)
- Place
- France
- Food
- Herbivore
- Clade
- Dinosauria The clade containing all dinosaurs, terrestrial archosaurs with upright limbs.
Matheronodon (meaning “Matheron tooth”) is a genus of rhabdodontid ornithopod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of the Grès à Reptiles Formation in France. The genus contains a single species, M. provincialis, which is known from a single maxilla and associated teeth. It was named by Pascal Godefroit and colleagues in 2017. The teeth of Matheronodon are large but few in number. The teeth are also in an unusual arrangement, emerging alternatingly from one of a pair of fused tooth sockets in its mouth. In life, the teeth would have functioned like a pair of scissors, allowing Matheronodon to feed on the tough leaves of monocot plants.
What we know
- Named by Godefroit et al., 2017.
- Body length estimated at about 5 m.
- Fossils found in France.
What we guess
The reconstruction notes for Matheronodon — soft tissue, color, behavior — haven't been written up yet. Only the recorded basics above are filled in so far.