Echinodon
Name: Echinodon
(hedgehog tooth).
Phonetic: Eh-ky-no-don.
Named By: Richard Owen - 1861.
Synonyms: Echinodon becklesi,
Saurechinodon becklesii.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Ornithischia, Heterodontosauridae.
Species: E. becklesii
(type).
Diet: Herbivore/Omnivore.
Size: Roughly about 60 centimetres long.
Known locations: England - Lulworth Formation,
Worbarrow Tout Member.
Time period: Berriasian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial remains.
The
name Echinodon means ‘hedgehog tooth’, and
this is because when
Richard Owen first named Echinodon in 1861, he
thought he was
dealing with a lizard that had a similar lifestyle to a hedgehog.
Later, Echinodon was often perceived to be a
primitive thyreophoran
dinosaur (popularly known as an armoured dinosaur), but today we
consider this to be in error since fossil remains of turtle legs and
osteoderms were mistakenly included with Echinodon
fossils. Towards
the end of the twentieth century and early twenty-first century
Echinodon has been more commonly interpreted as a
heterodontosaur.
Heterodontosaurs
are so named because they typically feature a mixture of different
teeth which as a whole do not point to a particular dietary
specialisation. This in turn has led to the theory that some
heterodontosaurs may have been omnivorous, eating both plants and
small animals and/or scavenging carrion. This is mainly down to the
large canine teeth in the front of the mouth, of which Echinodon
possessed two. These canine teeth would be good for killing small
animals, but they could have also been used to dig up parts of plants
such as roots that other types of dinosaurs could not get to. As such
the exact diet of Echinodon, and by extension
other heterodontosaurs
remains speculation.
Further reading
- Monograph on the fossil Reptilia of the Wealden and Purbeck
formations. Part V. Lacertilia (Nuthetes, etc.).
[Purbeck]. The Palaeontological Society, London 1858:31-39.
- Richard Owen - 1861.
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