Liodon
Name: Liodon
(smooth teeth).
Phonetic: Ly-o-don.
Named By: Louis Agassiz - 1846.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Squamata,
Mosasauridae, Mosasaurinae.
Species: L. anceps (type),
L. compressiden?, L. sectorius?.
Diet: Carnivore/Piscivore.
Size: Unavailable.
Known locations: Worldwide with fossil remains
discovered in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America.
Time period: Campanian to Maastichtian of the
Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial remains.
Liodon
was amongst the earliest named genera of mosasaur,
with a taxonomic
history going all the way back to 1841 when the naturalist Richard
Owen first named the genus. However, back then Richard Owen spelt
the name as Leiodon, but a few years later it was
realised that the
name Leiodon had already been used to name a genus
of fish, so
another naturalist named Louis Agassiz altered the name to its
present state, Liodon.
Species
of Liodon ranged between eight and twelve meters
long, putting Liodon
in the medium to large range for average mosasaur sizes. This also
indicates that Liodon also attained apex predator
status and was
capable of taking on all kinds of prey items from fish to marine
reptiles like plesiosaurs
to even other mosasaurs. However despite
the largest species of Liodon approaching twelve
meters in length,
some large mosasaur genera that lived at the same time as Liodon
such
as Mosasaurus,
Tylosaurus
grew to lengths of about fifteen meters,
potentially enough to give fully grown adults of these genera top
predator status over Liodon. Out of these two
genera, Liodon seems
to be closer to Mosasaurus in overall form,
indicating a more
robust build as well as seeing the genus included within a sub group of
the Mosasauridae called the Mosasaurinae.
A
2019 redecsription of the genus (LeBlanc et al) has
cast doubt into the
validity of species assigned to the genus, with one former speicies, L.
mosasauroides, has been moved over to the Eremiasaurus
genus.
Further reading
- Catalogue of the Pythonomorpha found in the Cretaceous strata of
Kansas. - Proceedings of the American Philosphical Society
(separate) 1-24. - E. D. Cope - 1871.
- Note of some Cretaceous Vertebrata in the State Agricultural
College of Kansas, U.S.A. - Proceedings of the American
Philosophical Society 12(5):168-170. - E. D. Cope -
1871.
- Redescription and reassignment of “Liodon” mosasauroides
to the genus
Eremiasaurus (squamata, mosasauridae. - SVP 2019,
Annual Meeting,
Program and Abstracts, 79A: 1 - Aaron R. H. LeBlanc, Michael Wayne
Caldwell & Nathalie Bardet - 2019.
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