Open Paleo

Craspedodon

Dollo, 1883 kras-PED-o-don Nomen dubium

From Greek 'kraspedon' (edge, fringe, border) and 'odon' (tooth); meaning 'edge tooth', in reference to the ridges and denticles ornamenting the tooth crowns.

89.8–83.6 million years ago Coniacian–Santonian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Craspedodon is an extinct genus of ornithischian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Lonzée Member of Belgium. Only a single species, C. lonzeensis, is known.

Under dispute

Craspedodon lonzeensis is based on isolated teeth from Belgium. Dollo (1883) placed it among the ornithopods, and Godefroit and Lambert (2007) reinterpreted it as a basal neoceratopsian; Ősi and colleagues (2010) suggested it may instead be a hadrosauroid ornithopod. Maidment and colleagues (2026) caution that convergence makes such teeth very difficult to distinguish between ceratopsians and ornithopods. It is placed at Cerapoda incertae sedis, the nearest clade both readings accept.

Species

Craspedodon lonzeensis Dollo, 1883 Nomen dubium

Type species

After Lonzée, near Gembloux (Namur Province, Belgium), the locality where the type material was discovered.

Syntypes
RBINS R59, RBINS R58, RBINS R105 , Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Material
Three isolated teeth.
Horizon
Lonzée Member, Chalk Group, Coniacian–Santonian, Late Cretaceous , 89.8–83.6 million years ago
Locality
Lonzée, Namur, Belgium

References

  1. Dollo, L. (1883). Note sur les restes de dinosauriens rencontrés dans le Crétacé supérieur de la Belgique [Note on the dinosaur remains found in the Upper Cretaceous of Belgium]. Bulletin du Musée royal d'Histoire naturelle de Belgique 2: 205-221.

    Original description on two teeth; places it within Ornithopoda on tooth morphology, listing its crown ornament after that of Iguanodon in a series of dental modifications.

    dollo1883a
  2. Godefroit, P.; Lambert, O. (2007). A re-appraisal of Craspedodon lonzeensis Dollo, 1883 from the Upper Cretaceous of Belgium: the first record of a neoceratopsian dinosaur in Europe?. Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Sciences de la Terre 77: 83-93.

    Reidentifies Craspedodon as a basal ceratopsoid neoceratopsian — the first proposed European representative — with a revised tooth-based diagnosis on three teeth (RBINS R59, R58, R105).

    godefroit2007a
  3. Ősi, A.; Butler, R. J.; Weishampel, D. B. (2010). A Late Cretaceous ceratopsian dinosaur from Europe with Asian affinities. Nature 465(7297): 466-468. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/nature09019

    Notes that Godefroit and Lambert's (2007) neoceratopsian reidentification of Craspedodon is uncertain, and suggests it may instead represent a hadrosauroid ornithopod.

    ősi2010a
  4. Maidment, S. C. R.; Butler, R. J.; Brusatte, S. L.; Meade, L. E.; Augustin, F. J.; Csiki-Sava, Z.; Ősi, A. (2026). A hidden diversity of ceratopsian dinosaurs in Late Cretaceous Europe. Nature 651(8105): 397-403. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09897-w

    Did not analyze Craspedodon, cautioning that convergence makes such fragmentary teeth very difficult to distinguish between ceratopsians and ornithopods.

    maidment2026a