text stringlengths 1 3.86k |
|---|
One of the first details noted about Iguanodon was that it had the teeth of a herbivorous reptile , although there has not always been consensus on how it ate . As Mantell noted , the remains he was working with were unlike any modern reptile , especially in the toothless , scoop @-@ shaped form of the lower jaw symph... |
The skull was structured in such a way that as it closed , the bones holding the teeth in the upper jaw would bow out . This would cause the lower surfaces of the upper jaw teeth to rub against the upper surface of the lower jaw 's teeth , grinding anything caught in between and providing an action that is the rough e... |
Exactly what Iguanodon ate with its well @-@ developed jaws is not known . The size of the larger species , such as I. bernissartensis , would have allowed them access to food from ground level to tree foliage at 4 – 5 metres ( 13 – 16 ft ) high . A diet of horsetails , cycads , and conifers was suggested by David Nor... |
= = = Posture and movement = = = |
Early fossil remains were fragmentary , which led to much speculation on the posture and nature of Iguanodon . Iguanodon was initially portrayed as a quadrupedal horn @-@ nosed beast . However , as more bones were discovered , Mantell observed that the forelimbs were much smaller than the hindlimbs . His rival Owen wa... |
During his re @-@ examination of Iguanodon , David Norman was able to show that this posture was unlikely , because the long tail was stiffened with ossified tendons . To get the tripodal pose , the tail would literally have to be broken . Putting the animal in a horizontal posture makes many aspects of the arms and p... |
Furthermore , it appears that Iguanodon became more quadrupedal as it got older and heavier ; juvenile I. bernissartensis have shorter arms than adults ( 60 % of hindlimb length versus 70 % for adults ) . When walking as a quadruped , the animal 's hands would have been held so that the palms faced each other , as sho... |
Large three @-@ toed footprints are known in Early Cretaceous rocks of England , particularly Wealden beds on the Isle of Wight , and these trace fossils were originally difficult to interpret . Some authors associated them with dinosaurs early on . In 1846 , E. Tagert went so far as to assign them to an ichnogenus he... |
= = = Thumb spike = = = |
The thumb spike is one of the best @-@ known features of Iguanodon . Although it was originally placed on the animal 's nose by Mantell , the complete Bernissart specimens allowed Dollo to place it correctly on the hand , as a modified thumb . ( This would not be the last time a dinosaur 's modified thumb claw would b... |
This thumb is typically interpreted as a close @-@ quarter stiletto @-@ like weapon against predators , although it could also have been used to break into seeds and fruits , or against other Iguanodon . One author has suggested that the spike was attached to a venom gland , but this has not been accepted , as the spi... |
= = = Possible social behaviour = = = |
Although sometimes interpreted as the result of a single catastrophe , the Bernissart finds instead are now interpreted as recording multiple events . According to this interpretation , at least three occasions of mortality are recorded , and though numerous individuals would have died in a geologically short time spa... |
An argument against herding is that juvenile remains are very uncommon at this site , unlike modern cases with herd mortality . They more likely were the periodic victims of flash floods whose carcasses accumulated in a lake or marshy setting . The Nehden find , however , with its greater span of individual ages , mor... |
Unlike other purported herding dinosaurs ( especially hadrosaurs and ceratopsids ) , there is no evidence that Iguanodon was sexually dimorphic , with one sex appreciably different from the other . At one time , it was suggested that the Bernissart I. " mantelli " , or I. atherfieldensis ( Dollodon and Mantellisaurus ... |
= = = Paleopathology = = = |
Evidence of a fractured hip bone was found in a specimen of Iguanodon , which had an injury to its ischium . Two other individuals were observed with signs of osteoarthritis as evidenced by bone overgrowths in their anklebones which are called osteophytes . |
= = Discovery and history = = |
= = = Gideon Mantell , Sir Richard Owen , and the discovery of dinosaurs = = = |
The discovery of Iguanodon has long been accompanied by a popular legend . The story goes that Gideon Mantell 's wife , Mary Ann , discovered the first teeth of an Iguanodon in the strata of Tilgate Forest in Whitemans Green , Cuckfield , Sussex , England , in 1822 while her husband was visiting a patient . However , ... |
In recognition of the resemblance of the teeth to those of the iguana , Mantell decided to name his new animal Iguanodon or " iguana @-@ tooth " , from iguana and the Greek word ὀδών ( odon , odontos or " tooth " ) . Based on isometric scaling , he estimated that the creature might have been up to 18 metres ( 59 feet ... |
Mantell sent a letter detailing his discovery to the local Portsmouth Philosophical Society in December 1824 , several weeks after settling on a name for the fossil creature . The letter was read to members of the Society at a meeting on 17 December , and a report was published in the Hampshire Telegraph the following... |
A more complete specimen of similar animal was discovered in a quarry in Maidstone , Kent , in 1834 ( lower Lower Greensand Formation ) , which Mantell soon acquired . He was led to identify it as an Iguanodon based on its distinctive teeth . The Maidstone slab was utilized in the first skeletal reconstructions and ar... |
At the same time , tension began to build between Mantell and Richard Owen , an ambitious scientist with much better funding and society connections in the turbulent worlds of Reform Act – era British politics and science . Owen , a firm creationist , opposed the early versions of evolutionary science ( " transmutatio... |
In 1849 , a few years before his death in 1852 , Mantell realised that iguanodonts were not heavy , pachyderm @-@ like animals , as Owen was putting forward , but had slender forelimbs ; however , his passing left him unable to participate in the creation of the Crystal Palace dinosaur sculptures , and so Owen 's visi... |
= = = Bernissart = = = |
The largest find of Iguanodon remains to that date occurred on 28 February 1878 in a coal mine at Bernissart in Belgium , at a depth of 322 m ( 1 @,@ 056 ft ) , when two mineworkers , Jules Créteur and Alphonse Blanchard , accidentally hit on a skeleton that they initially took for petrified wood . With the encouragem... |
The science of conserving fossil remains was in its infancy , and new techniques had to be improvised to deal with what soon became known as " pyrite disease " . Crystalline pyrite in the bones was being oxidized to iron sulphate , accompanied by an increase in volume that caused the remains to crack and crumble . Whe... |
Dollo 's specimens allowed him to show that Owen 's prehistoric pachyderms were not correct for Iguanodon . He instead modelled the skeletal mounts after the cassowary and wallaby , and put the spike that had been on the nose firmly on the thumb . He was not completely correct , but he also had the disadvantage of bei... |
Excavations at the quarry were stopped in 1881 , although it was not exhausted of fossils , as recent drilling operations have shown . During World War I , when the town was occupied by German forces , preparations were made to reopen the mine for palaeontology , and Otto Jaekel was sent from Berlin to supervise . The... |
= = = Current research = = = |
Research on Iguanodon decreased during the early part of the 20th century as World Wars and the Great Depression enveloped Europe . A new species that would become the subject of much study and taxonomic controversy , I. atherfieldensis , was named in 1925 by R. W. Hooley , for a specimen collected at Atherfield Point... |
Iguanodon was recorded from Africa based on teeth from Tunisia and elsewhere in the Sahara , but the description of Lurdusaurus and Ouranosaurus cast doubt on African records of Iguanodon . The genus was also recorded from Mongolia based on the description of I. orientalis , and in North America based on I. ottingeri ... |
Iguanodon was not part of the initial work of the dinosaur renaissance that began with the description of Deinonychus in 1969 , but it was not neglected for long . David B. Weishampel 's work on ornithopod feeding mechanisms provided a better understanding of how it fed , and David B. Norman 's work on numerous aspect... |
Iguanodon material has also been used in the search for dinosaur DNA and other biomolecules . In research by Graham Embery et al . , Iguanodon bones were processed to look for remnant proteins . In this research , identifiable remains of typical bone proteins , such as phosphoproteins and proteoglycans , were found in... |
= = Species = = |
Because Iguanodon is one of the first dinosaur genera to have been named , numerous species have been assigned to it . While never becoming the wastebasket taxon several other early genera of dinosaurs became ( such as Megalosaurus ) , Iguanodon has had a complicated history , and its taxonomy continues to undergo rev... |
I. anglicus was the original type species , but the holotype was based on a single tooth and only partial remains of the species have been recovered since . In March 2000 , the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature changed the type species to the much better known I. bernissartensis , with the new holoty... |
= = = Species currently accepted as valid = = = |
Only two species assigned to Iguanodon are still considered to be valid . |
I. bernissartensis , described by George Albert Boulenger in 1881 , is the type species for the genus . This species is best known for the many skeletons discovered in Bernissart , but is also known from remains across Europe . David Norman suggested that it includes the dubious Mongolian I. orientalis , but this has ... |
I. galvensis , described in 2015 , is based on adult and juvenile remains found in Barremian @-@ age deposits in Teruel , Spain . |
= = = Reassigned species = = = |
I. hoggi ( also spelled I. boggii or hoggii ) , named by Owen for a lower jaw from the Tithonian – Berriasian @-@ age Upper Jurassic – Lower Cretaceous Purbeck Beds of Dorset in 1874 , has been reassigned to its own genus , Owenodon . |
Iguanodon albinus ( or Albisaurus scutifer ) , described by Czech palaeontologist Antonin Fritsch in 1893 , is a dubious nondinosaurian reptile now known as Albisaurus albinus . |
I. atherfieldensis , described by R.W. Hooley in 1925 , was smaller and less robust than I. bernissartensis , with longer neural spines . It was renamed Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis in 2007 . The Bernissart specimen RBINS 1551 was described as Dollodon bampingi in 2008 , but McDonald and Norman returned Dollodon to ... |
I. exogyrarum was described by Fritsch in 1878 . It is a nomen dubium based on very poor material and was renamed Ponerosteus in 2000 . |
I. prestwichii ( also spelled I. prestwichi ) , described by John Hulke in 1880 , has been reassigned to Camptosaurus prestwichii or to its own genus Cumnoria . |
Two species described by Richard Lydekker in the late 19th century have been reassigned to different genera . |
I. dawsoni , described by Lydekker in 1888 , is known from two partial skeletons found in East Sussex , England , from the middle Valanginian @-@ age Lower Cretaceous Wadhurst Clay . It is now the type species of Barilium . |
I. fittoni was described by Lydekker in 1889 . Like I. dawsoni , this species was described from the Wadhurst Clay of East Sussex . It is now the type species of Hypselospinus . |
I. hollingtoniensis ( also spelled I. hollingtonensis ) , described by Lydekker in 1889 has variously been considered a synonym of Hypselospinus fittoni or a distinct species assigned to the genus Huxleysaurus . A specimen from the Valanginian Wadhurst Clay Formation , variously assigned to I. hollingtoniensis and I. ... |
I. seelyi ( also incorrectly spelled I. seeleyi ) , described by Hulke two years after I. prestwichii , has been synonymised with Iguanodon bernissartensis , though this is controversial . |
I. suessii , described by Emanuel Bunzel in 1871 , has been reassigned to Mochlodon suessi . |
I. lakotaensis was described by David B. Weishampel and Philip R. Bjork in 1989 . The only well @-@ accepted North American species of Iguanodon , I. lakotaensis was described from a partial skull from the Barremian @-@ age Lower Cretaceous Lakota Formation of South Dakota . Its assignment has been controversial . Som... |
Iguanodon mantelli described by Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer in 1832 , was based on the same material as I. anglicus and is an objective junior synonym of the latter . Several taxa , including the holotype of Dollodon and Mantellodon , but also the dubious hadrosauroid Trachodon cantabrigiensis the hypsilophodont... |
I. hilli , coined by Edwin Tully Newton in 1892 for a tooth from the early Cenomanian Upper Cretaceous Lower Chalk of Hertfordshire , has been considered an early hadrosaurid of some sort . However , recent work places it as indeterminate beyond Hadrosauroidea outside Hadrosauridae . |
I. orientalis , described by A. K. Rozhdestvensky in 1952 , was based on poor material , but a skull with a distinctive arched snout that had been assigned to it was renamed Altirhinus kurzanovi in 1998 . At the same time , I. orientalis was considered to be a nomen dubium because it cannot be compared to I. bernissar... |
Harry Seeley described I. phillipsi in 1869 , but later reassigned it to Priodontognathus . |
I. praecursor ( also spelled I. precursor ) , described by E. Sauvage in 1876 from teeth from an unnamed Kimmeridgian ( Late Jurassic ) formation in Pas @-@ de @-@ Calais , France , is actually a sauropod , sometimes assigned to Neosodon , although the two come from different formations . |
" I. mongolensis " ( Whitfield , 1992 ) is a nomen nudum from a photo caption in a book , of remains that would later be named Altirhinus . |
Delapparentia turolensis was named in 2011 based on a specimen previously assigned to Iguanodon bernissartensis . |
= = = Species referred to Iguanodon that were originally named as nominal species of other genera = = = |
I. valdensis , a renaming of Vectisaurus valdensis by Ernst van den Broeck in 1900 . Originally named Vectisaurus valdensis by Hulke in 1879 based on vertebral and pelvic remains , it was from the Barremian stage of the Isle of Wight . It was considered a juvenile specimen of Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis , or an und... |
I. foxii ( also spelled I. foxi ) was originally described by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1869 as the type species of Hypsilophodon ; Owen ( 1873 or 1874 ) reassigned it to Iguanodon , but his assignment was soon overturned . |
I. gracilis , named by Lydekker in 1888 as the type species of Sphenospondylus and assigned to Iguanodon in 1969 by Rodney Steel , has been tossed of as a synonym of Mantellisaurus atherfieldensis , but is dubious nowadays . |
I. major , a species named by Justin Delair in 1966 , based on vertebrae from the Isle of Wight and Sussex originally described by Owen in 1842 as a species of Streptospondylus , S. major , is a nomen dubium which is now thought to be a synonym of I. anglicus , although it may be its own species . |
The nomen nudum " Proiguanodon " ( van den Broeck , 1900 ) also belongs here . |
= = = Dubious species = = = |
Two Iguanodon species are currently considered to be nomina dubia : |
I. anglicus , described by Friedrich Holl in 1829 , is the original type species of Iguanodon , but , as discussed above , was replaced by I. bernissartensis . In the past , it has been spelled as I. angelicus ( Lessem and Glut , 1993 ) and I. anglicum ( Holl , 1829 emend . Bronn , 1850 ) . It is known from teeth from... |
I. ottingeri , described by Peter Galton and James A. Jensen in 1979 , is a nomen dubium based on teeth from the possibly Aptian @-@ age lower Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah . |
The genera Iguanosaurus ( Ritgen , 1828 ) , Hikanodon ( Keferstein , 1834 ) , and Therosaurus ( Fitzinger , 1840 ) , are simply junior objective synonyms , later names for the material of I. anglicus . |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.