Trimucrodon

three-pointed tooth

• tri- · Latin · three
• mucro · Latin · point / sharp tip
• -don · Greek · tooth

The name combines the Latin prefix 'tri-' (three), the Latin noun 'mucro' (a sharp point or tip), and the Greek suffix '-don' (tooth). It was chosen to describe the distinctive three-cusped, or tricuspid, teeth of the animal. The name therefore literally translates as "three-pointed tooth," referring to the defining dental feature of the type specimen.

Named by

Thulborn

Year named

1973

Period

Late Jurassic

Stage

Kimmeridgian

Found in

Alcobaça Formation, Portugal

Trimucrodon cuneatus is known only from isolated teeth found in the Late Jurassic of Portugal. It is considered a nomen dubium because the fragmentary dental material is insufficient to confidently diagnose it as a distinct genus or assign it reliably within Ornithischia. It has sometimes been tentatively referred to the hypsilophodontid ornithopods, but its precise classification remains uncertain.