Rhabdodon
From Greek rhabdos (fluted, rod-like) and odon (tooth); meaning "fluted tooth".
Rhabdodon is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived in Europe approximately 72-69 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous. The genus contains a single species, R. priscus. It is similar in build to a very robust "hypsilophodont" (non-iguanodont ornithopod), though all modern phylogenetic analyses find this to be an unnatural grouping, and Rhabdodon to be a basal member of Iguanodontia. It was large among its relatives, measuring 4 m (13 ft) long and weighing 250 kg (550 lb), with some specimens possibly reaching up to 6 m (20 ft) long.
Diagnosis
- Pleurodont dental system with teeth in common alveolar groove, compressed and fluted vertically
- Teeth not housed in distinct alveoli but adhered by root side to inner jaw face
- Teeth regularly fluted in vertical direction on lateral faces, irregularly undulating in cross-section when fully developed
- Lower jaw with parallelism of upper and lower borders
- External jaw surface with holes positioned above midpoint of bone, more closely spaced than in Iguanodon
- Opercular bone covering alveolar groove reaching height of upper jaw border
- Lumbar vertebra slightly bi-concave with large vertebral foramen
- Articulation of consecutive vertebrae as in crocodiles with anterior articular processes exterior and inferior
- Sacral vertebrae ankylosed together in single unit
Species
Rhabdodon priscus Matheron, 1869
Type species
From Latin 'priscus' meaning 'ancient' or 'former', indicating the primitive or early nature of the taxon.
- Lectotype
- MPLM 30 , Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Marseille
- Material
- Partial left dentary missing the anterior portion
- Horizon
- Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–66.0 million years ago
- Locality
- Tunnel de la Nerthe, Bouches-du-Rhône, France The units Norman (2004) and Weishampel and colleagues (2004) list for the species are genus-level distribution lists covering its other localities, not statements about the type locality.
Synonyms of the genus
| Name | Type | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Oligosaurus | junior subjective | Norman (2004) lists Oligosaurus adelus and Ornithomerus gracilis, both Seeley (1881), among the material of Rhabdodon priscus. |
| Ornithomerus | junior subjective | Norman (2004) lists Oligosaurus adelus and Ornithomerus gracilis, both Seeley (1881), among the material of Rhabdodon priscus. |
ICZN cases
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Name conservation Ruled
Opinion 1483 used the plenary powers to suppress Rhabdodon Fleischmann, 1831, a snake genus and the senior homonym, for both priority and homonymy, and placed Rhabdodon Matheron, 1869 on the Official List of Generic Names in Zoology with Rhabdodon priscus as its type species by monotypy, the epithet corrected from the original priscum.
Application: Brinkmann (1986) Opinion: International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (1988)
References
- Matheron, P. (1869). Note sur les reptiles fossiles des dépôts fluvio-lacustres crétacés du bassin à lignite de Fuveau [Note on the fossil reptiles from the Cretaceous fluvio-lacustrine deposits of the lignitic Fuveau Basin]. Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France, series 2 26: 781-795. matheron1869b
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Matheron, P. (1869). Notice sur les reptiles fossiles des dépôts fluvio-lacustres crétacés du bassin à lignite de Fuveau [Notice on the fossil reptiles from the Cretaceous fluvio-lacustrine deposits of the lignitic Fuveau Basin]. Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences, Belles-Lettres, et Arts de Marseille 1868-1869: 345-379.
The companion memoir, which spells the genus "Rabdodon" in its text. Opinion 1483 finds it was still in press when the Bulletin note appeared.
matheron1869a - International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (1988). Opinion 1483. Rhabdodon Matheron, 1869 (Reptilia, Ornithischia): conserved. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 45: 85-86. iczn1988a
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Brinkmann, W. (1986). Rhabdodon Matheron, 1869 (Reptilia, Ornithischia): proposed conservation by suppression of Rhabdodon Fleischmann, 1831 (Reptilia, Serpentes). Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 43: 269-272. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.447
Applied for the conservation, showing the senior homonym had been used once and was already a synonym of the Montpellier snake.
brinkmann1986a -
Norman, D. B. (2004). Basal Iguanodontia. The Dinosauria, Second Edition (Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H., eds.) 413-437. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Lists Oligosaurus adelus and Ornithomerus gracilis among the material of Rhabdodon priscus.
norman2004a -
Paul, G. S. (2024). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (3rd ed.). Princeton University Press.
Source of the appearance features.
paul2024a -
Czepiński, Ł.; Madzia, D. (2025). Exploring the diversity and disparity of rhabdodontomorph ornithopods from the Late Cretaceous European archipelago. Scientific Reports 15(1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/s41598-025-98083-z
Places the lectotype in the Lower Rognacian lacustrine marls at the Tunnel de la Nerthe, and gives the department as Bouches-du-Rhône.
czepiński2025a -
Weishampel, D. B.; Dodson, P.; Osmólska, H. (eds.) (2004). The Dinosauria, Second Edition. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Lists the species' occurrences by department, naming the Marnes Rouges Inférieures for the Aude and the Grès à Reptiles for Bouches-du-Rhône.
weishampel2004a -
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