Leptochamops

Name: Leptochamops.
Phonetic: Lep-toe-cham-ops.
Named By: Charles W.‭ ‬Gilmore‭ ‬-‭ ‬1928.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Reptilia,‭ ‬Squamata.‭
Species: L.‭ ‬denticulatus‭ (‬type‭)‬,‭ ‬L.‭ ‬thrinax.
Diet: Insectivore.
Size: Roughly‭ ‬30‭ ‬centimetres long.
Known locations: Canada,‭ ‬Alberta‭ & ‬Saskatchewan.‭ ‬USA,‭ ‬Montana,‭ ‬New Mexico,‭ ‬Utah‭ & ‬Wyoming.
Time period: Santonian to Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Specimens of Many individuals.

       The fairly high number of Leptochamops specimens so far found suggests that this would have been a fairly common little lizard in the late Cretaceous ecosystems of North America.‭ ‬Like with many modern lizard today,‭ ‬Leptochamops was probably a fairly small predator of invertebrates while it tried to keep out of the predatory scope of dromaeosaurid dinosaurs such as Saurornitholestes.
       In‭ ‬2012‭ ‬two lower jaw fragments that were previously assigned to the type species L.‭ ‬denticulatus were found to be different.‭ ‬These were used to create a new genus,‭ ‬Obamadon,‭ ‬so named after the‭ ‬44th president of the United States of America,‭ ‬Barack Obama,‭ ‬however the name was not formalised as valid until‭ ‬2013.

Further reading
-‭ ‬Fossil vertebrates from the Late Cretaceous Lance Formation,‭ ‬eastern Wyoming,‭ ‬R.‭ ‬Estes‭ ‬-‭ ‬1964.



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