Dakotadon

Dakota tooth

• Dakota · Dakota (Sioux) via place name · the Dakota region, South Dakota
• odon · Greek · tooth

Dakotadon combines "Dakota", the region (South Dakota, USA) where the fossils were found, with the Greek word for "tooth". It was coined by Gregory S. Paul in 2008 for the iguanodont species originally described as Iguanodon lakotaensis, which Paul moved into its own genus. The "-odon" ending is a common way of naming iguanodont-like dinosaurs, whose teeth were important for identifying them.

Named by

Paul

Year named

2008

Period

Early Cretaceous

Found in

Lakota Formation, South Dakota, USA

The type species is Dakotadon lakotaensis (originally Iguanodon lakotaensis, Weishampel and Bjork 1989). Not all researchers accept the genus as distinct; some treat the species as belonging to Iguanodon or as a poorly defined iguanodont.