Echinodon

Taxobox
name = "Echinodon"
fossil_range=Early Cretaceous
regnum = Animalia


image_width = 200px
image_caption = Teeth and jaw fragment of "Echinodon".
phylum = Chordata
classis = Sauropsida
superordo = Dinosauria
ordo = Ornithischia
subordo = Cerapoda
familia = Heterodontosauridae
genus = "Echinodon"
genus_authority = Owen, 1861
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
*"E. becklesii" Owen, 1861 (type)

"Echinodon" (eh-KY-no-don) meaning "hedgehog tooth" in reference to the spines on its teeth (Greek "echinos" = hedgehog + "odon" = tooth), occasionally known as "Saurechinodon", is a genus of small European dinosaur of the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian).

Discovery and species

The type specimen was discovered by Samuel Beckles near Swanage, England. A bipedal herbivore, it was around 0.6 meters (2 ft) long. Unlike most ornithischians, "Echinodon" had one or two caniniform teeth in each maxilla.

The only species is "E. becklesii", named in 1861 by Richard Owen, who mistook it for a lizard.

Classification

"Echinodon" has at times been considered it a basal thyreophoran, mainly due to the erroneous association of turtle limb osteoderms with its remains. Paul Sereno's reclassification to Heterodontosauridae in 1991 remains somewhat controversial. David B. Norman and Paul M. Barrett redescribed "Echinodon" in 2002 and supported the heterodontosaurid classification, though using somewhat different evidence than Sereno. If "Echinodon" is a true heterodontosaurid, it is considerably younger than all other well-known members of this family.

References

* [http://www.dinoruss.org/de_4/5a799a8.htm "Echinodon" in The Dinosaur Encyclopaedia] at Dino Russ's Lair
* [http://www.users.qwest.net/~jstweet1/ornithischia.htm "Echinodon"] at "Thescelosaurus"! (under Heterodontosauridae "i.s.")
*Norman, D.B. & P.M. Barrett, 2002. Ornithischian dinosaurs from the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian) of England. "Special Papers in Palaeontology" 68: 161-189.