Open Paleo

Mochlodon

Seeley, 1881 MOK-lo-don

From Greek 'mochlos' meaning 'bar' or 'lever' and 'odon' meaning 'tooth', giving the meaning 'bar tooth' or 'lever tooth', referring to a distinctive tooth morphology.

83.6–72.2 million years ago Campanian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Mochlodon is a genus of rhabdodontid dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of Austria and Hungary. It lived during the Late Cretaceous (85-80 Ma) and two species have been named, M. suessi and M. vorosi, although the latter has been regarded as a junior synonym of the ceratopsian Ajkaceratops.

Diagnosis

  1. Straight dentary lacking U-shaped curve of Iguanodon symphysis, resulting in sharply pointed snout
  2. Teeth with strong persistent median ridge and fine lateral striations on external surface
  3. Scissors-like tooth wear with lower-jaw teeth internal to upper-jaw teeth
  4. Tooth crowns with lateral ridges terminating in sharply rounded lanceolate margin giving crenulate appearance

Species (2)

Mochlodon suessi Bunzel, 1871

Type species

Named for Eduard Suess, the geologist who directed the excavations that recovered the type material at Muthmannsdorf, Austria.

Lectotype
PIUW 2349/2 , Paläontologisches Institut und Museum der Universität Wien
Material
Right dentary bone, ~7.5 cm long with tooth-bearing part 17-18 mm.
Notes
Seeley (1881) also refers a small parietal and the proximal end of a scapula, each only as "probably" Mochlodon; neither is part of the lectotype.
Horizon
Grünbach Formation, Campanian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–72.2 million years ago
Locality
Konstantin mining tunnel, Felbering Mine, Muthmannsdorf, Lower Austria, Austria

Mochlodon vorosi Ősi et al., 2012

Honors Attila Vörös, the paleontologist who founded the Hungarian Academy of Sciences' paleontological research group.

Holotype
MTM V 2010.105.1 , Hungarian Natural History Museum
Material
Complete left dentary with four broken teeth.
Horizon
Csehbánya Formation, Santonian, Late Cretaceous , 85.7–83.6 million years ago
Locality
Iharkút, Veszprém, Hungary
Diagnosis
  1. Dentary with a markedly deeper depression below the coronoid process that becomes transversely shallower but dorsoventrally wider toward the dentary-surangular suture.
  2. Rostral tip of the dentary directed rostrally, so the dorsal margin of the symphyseal region is horizontal and near the level of the alveolar margin (rostroventrally directed in M. suessi).
  3. Groove on the dorsal margin of the symphyseal region bordered caudally by a dorsally rounded vertical wall separating the first alveolus from the symphyseal region.

Synonyms of the genus

Name Type Reason
Oligosaurus junior subjective Based on rhabdodontid material from the Late Cretaceous of Austria; now treated as a junior synonym of Mochlodon.
Ornithomerus junior subjective Based on rhabdodontid material from the Late Cretaceous of Austria; now treated as a junior synonym of Mochlodon.

References

  1. Csiki-Sava, Z.; Buffetaut, E.; Ősi, A.; Pereda-Suberbiola, X.; Brusatte, S. L. (2015). Island life in the Cretaceous — faunal composition, biogeography, evolution, and extinction of land-living vertebrates on the Late Cretaceous European archipelago. ZooKeys 469: 1-161. doi:10.3897/zookeys.469.8439

    Gives a position for the Iharkút open-pit mine as a whole, which holds several bone-bearing sites.

    csiki-sava2015a
  2. Seeley, H. G. (1881). The Reptile Fauna of the Gosau Formation preserved in the Geological Museum of the University of Vienna. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London 37(1-4): 620-707. Geological Society of London. doi:10.1144/GSL.JGS.1881.037.01-04.49

    The article runs to p. 707, where the discussion closes; p. 708 begins a different paper. Pages 704-706 carry the explanation of plates XXVII-XXXI and 706-707 a synopsis of the figured bones arranged by species. Suess's note on the Gosau beds is an appendix within this range and is separately registered.

    seeley1881a
  3. Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Ornithischians. Princeton University Press.

    Source of the body length, mass, and hip height estimates.

    jones2026a
  4. Ősi, A.; Prondvai, E.; Butler, R.; Weishampel, D. B. (2012). Phylogeny, histology and inferred body size evolution in a new rhabdodontid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Hungary. PLoS ONE 7(9): e44318. Public Library of Science (PLoS). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0044318

    Erects Mochlodon vorosi on dentary MTM V 2010.105.1 from the Csehbánya Formation (Iharkút) of Hungary; revises rhabdodontid phylogeny.

    ősi2012a
  5. Bunzel, E. (1871). Die Reptilfauna der Gosau-Formation in der Neuen Welt bei Wiener-Neustadt [The reptile fauna of the Gosau Formation in the Neue Welt near Wiener Neustadt]. Abhandlungen der kaiserlich-königlichen geologischen Reichsanstalt 5: 1-18.

    In German. Names Iguanodon suessii, which Seeley (1881) made the type species of Mochlodon.

    bunzel1871a