Open Paleo

Manidens

Pol et al., 2011 man-EYE-denz

From Latin 'manus' (hand) and 'dens' (tooth), referring to the hand-shaped form of the posterior lower teeth.

184.2–174.7 million years ago Toarcian, Early Jurassic
Early Jurassic stages

Manidens is an extinct genus of heterodontosaurid dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of Patagonia. Fossils have been found in the Cañadón Asfalto Formation in Chubut Province, Argentina, considered to be originally dated to the Bajocian, latter were found to be from Toarcian beds.

Diagnosis

  1. Jugal with strongly developed, dorsally placed lateral boss
  2. Dorsal part of postorbital process of jugal very slender and flexes abruptly posteriorly
  3. Forebrain facet on ventral surface of frontal enlarged with significantly raised margins
  4. Posterior teeth with asymmetric arrangement of denticles and mesial concavity
  5. Posteriormost dentary tooth hand-shaped with only one or two mesial denticles
  6. Small crenulations along cutting margin of each denticle
  7. Transverse processes projecting at more than 30° to the horizontal
  8. Sacrodorsal and sacrocaudal vertebrae absent
  9. Neural spines of the sacral vertebrae contacting one another distally
  10. Scapula relatively flat in sagittal view
  11. Coracoid subquadrate and equidimensional, with a long sternal process
  12. No vertical bone supporting the preacetabular process from the acetabular region
  13. Brevis shelf small and smooth, visible only in medial view

Species

Manidens condorensis Pol et al., 2011

Type species

Named for the village of Cerro Cóndor in Chubut Province, Argentina, located near the Queso Rallado site where the holotype was found.

Holotype
MPEF-PV 3211 , Museo Paleontológico "Egidio Feruglio"
Material
Partial associated skeleton including most elements of the skull and lower jaws, both proatlases, 16 vertebrae (cervical, dorsal, a fused sacrum of six vertebrae, and caudal), ribs, a fused right scapulocoracoid, a carpal (radiale), a non-ungual phalanx, and almost complete pelvic girdles
Horizon
Cañadón Asfalto Formation, Toarcian, Early Jurassic , 184.2–174.7 million years ago
Locality
Queso Rallado, Chubut, Argentina

References

  1. Pol, D.; Rauhut, O. W. M.; Becerra, M. (2011). A Middle Jurassic heterodontosaurid dinosaur from Patagonia and the evolution of heterodontosaurids. Naturwissenschaften 98(5): 369-379. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1007/s00114-011-0780-5

    Recovered Manidens as the sister taxon of the South African heterodontosaurid clade, the same arrangement later analyses express as the basalmost heterodontosaurine.

    pol2011a
  2. Cúneo, R.; Ramezani, J.; Scasso, R.; Pol, D.; Escapa, I.; Zavattieri, A. M.; Bowring, S. A. (2013). High-precision U-Pb geochronology and a new chronostratigraphy for the Cañadón Asfalto Basin, Chubut, central Patagonia: implications for terrestrial faunal and floral evolution in Jurassic. Gondwana Research 24(3-4): 1267-1275. Elsevier BV. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2013.01.010

    Places the Queso Rallado assemblage, including this taxon, in the lowermost Cañadón Asfalto Formation or beds transitional with the Lonco Trapial, and dates those strata middle-late Toarcian.

    cúneo2013a
  3. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the hip height estimate.

    jones2026a
  4. Fonseca, A. O.; Reid, I. J.; Venner, A.; Duncan, R. J.; Garcia, M. S.; Müller, R. T. (2024). A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis on early ornithischian evolution. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 22: 2346577. doi:10.1080/14772019.2024.2346577

    Recovered Manidens as basalmost Heterodontosaurinae in their ornithischian phylogeny.

    fonseca2024a
  5. Sereno, P. C. (2012). Taxonomy, morphology, masticatory function and phylogeny of heterodontosaurid dinosaurs. ZooKeys 226: 1-225. Pensoft Publishers. doi:10.3897/zookeys.226.2840

    Recovered Manidens as the basalmost heterodontosaurine.

    sereno2012a
  6. Becerra, M. G.; Pol, D.; Cerda, I. A.; Porro, L. B.; Rauhut, O. W. M. (2025). Postcranial osteology of Manidens condorensis (Ornithischia: Heterodontosauridae) from the Lower Jurassic of Argentina: 3D reconstruction, histology, and phylogenetic implications. Papers in Palaeontology 11(6): e70053. Wiley. doi:10.1002/spp2.70053

    Describes the postcranium of the holotype, reidentifying the pectoral girdle as a fused right scapulocoracoid; rib histology shows a skeletally mature but somatically immature individual.

    becerra2025a