[D] Hippodraco scutodens [sG] [T]
Describer
McDonald, Kirkland, DeBlieux, Madsen, Cavin, Milner & Panza 2010
Time
Cretaceous Early Barremian Aptian
Classification
Ornithischia Ornithopoda Iguanodontia
Diet
Herbivore
Fossilsite
Cedar Mountain Formation, Yellow Cat Member, Utah, US
Info
Holotype
UMNH VP 20208, the associated skeleton of a single individual, including a nearly complete skull and partial postcranium.
Etymology
Hippodraco, from the transliterated Greek hippos (horse) and the Latin draco (dragon), in reference to the long and low overall shape of the skull, grossly resembling that of a horse; scutodens, from the Latin scutum (oblong shield) and dens (tooth), in reference to the shape of the dentary tooth crowns. The gender of the genus is masculine. The intended meaning of the binomen is ‘shield-toothed horse-dragon’.
Diagnosis
Basal styracosternan diagnosed by a single autapomorphy: dentary tooth row strongly offset medially by a rounded lateral shelf that extends along the dorsolateral margin of the dentary from the first alveolus to the base of the coronoid process and slopes ventromedially to contact the labial margin of the tooth row. Also distinguished from all other iguanodontians except Theiophytalia kerri by the following combination of characters: finely striated flange that extends from the caudoventral margin of the jugal, projecting caudal to the jugal-quadratojugal contact; and lack of a gap (paraquadrate foramen) between quadratojugal and quadrate.
Locality and Horizon
Andrew’s Site (discovered by ARCM in 2004), UMNH VP locality 1207, northeast of Arches National Park, Grand County, Utah; exact locality information is on file at the Utah Geological Survey and Utah Museum of Natural History. Collected in the upper portion of the Yellow Cat Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation (upper Barremian-lowermost Aptian, Lower Cretaceous)