Diplotomodon

Leidy, 1868 DIP-lo-TOM-o-don Nomen dubium

From Greek diplos (double) + tomos (cutting) + odon (tooth): 'double cutting tooth', reflecting the doubled prefix added when the original name Tomodon was found to be preoccupied.

83.6–66.0 million years ago Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous

Late Cretaceous stages

Diplotomodon is a dubious genus of theropod dinosaur, from New Jersey. It was possibly a member of the Tyrannosauroidea, the clade that also contains Tyrannosaurus.

Species

Diplotomodon horrificus (Leidy, 1865) Nomen dubium

Type species

First named as Tomodon horrificus

From Latin 'horrificus' meaning 'dreadful'.

Holotype: ANSP 9680 , Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia
Material: A single large tooth, conical and strongly laterally compressed, with finely denticulated anterior and posterior cutting edges; the base and apex are damaged.
Horizon: Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–66.0 million years ago
Locality: Mullica Hill, New Jersey, United States Leidy (1865) picked the tooth out of a lot of shark teeth in a private collection and could place it no more finely than "the Green-sand formations". Gallagher (1993) gives it as "either from Navesink or Hornerstown Fm." and Molnar (1990) as "probably either the Navesink or Mount Laurel Formation", neither with a reason.

Synonyms of the genus

Name	Type	Reason
Tomodon	preoccupied	Name preoccupied by Tomodon (Serpentes).

References

Gallagher, W. B. (1993). The Cretaceous/Tertiary mass extinction event in the northern Atlantic Coastal Plain. The Mosasaur 5: 75-154.
Gives the type as from Mullica Hill, "either from Navesink or Hornerstown Fm., Maastrichtian".
gallagher1993a
Molnar, R. E. (1990). Problematic Theropoda: "Carnosaurs". The Dinosauria (Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H., eds.) 306-317. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Gives the tooth as from the 'Green-sand formations', "probably either the Navesink or Mount Laurel Formation".
molnar1990b
Leidy, J. (1865). Cretaceous reptiles of the United States. Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge 14: 1-135. Smithsonian Institution. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.39830
Original description of the holotype tooth (ANSP 9680) as Tomodon horrificus; source of the holotype material.
leidy1865a
Leidy, J. (1868). Remarks on Conosaurus of Gibbes. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1868: 200-202.
Establishes the replacement name Diplotomodon for Tomodon Leidy, 1865, preoccupied by the snake genus Tomodon.
leidy1868a