Name: Astrodon
(Star tooth).
Phonetic: As-tro-don.
Named By: Joseph Leidy - 1865.
Synonyms: Pleurocoelus?
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Sauropoda, Titanosauriformes.
Species: A. johnstoni
(type).
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Estimated at about 15-18 meters long.
Known locations: USA, Maryland - Arundel
Formation, Oklahoma - Antlers Formation.
Time period: Aptian/Albian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Partial remains.
Astrodon has been a troublesome genus of sauropod dinosaur, partly because of the lack of complete remains for the genus which was initially primarily named from the teeth. Astrodon also has an uncertain relationship with the genus Pleurocoelus, with some authors considering the two to be synonymous, to just some species of Pleurocoelus to be synonymous with Astrodon, to some considering both genera being dubious.
Further reading
- The Reptillian Fauna of the Arundel Formation" and "Systematic
Paleontology of the Lower Cretaceous Deposits of Maryland
-Dinosauria, Lower Cretaceous : Maryland Geological Survey
Systematic Reports, pp. 173–178, 183-211. - R. S. Lull
- 1911.
- Discovery of remains of Astrodon
(Pleurocoelus) in the
Atlantosaurus beds of Wyoming. - Annals of the
Carnegie Museum of
Natural History 2: 9–14 - John Bell hatcher - 1903.
- Studies of the sauropod dinosaur Astrodon
Leidy, - Proceedings
of the Washington Junior Academy of Sciences, 1: 38-44 -R. F.
Kingham. - 1962.
- Additions to the vertebrate fauna of the Antlers Formation (Lower
Cretaceous), southeastern Oklahoma. - Oklahoma Geology Notes
57:124-131. - R. Cifelli, J. D. Gardner, R. L.
Nydam & D. L. Brinkman.
- Reassessment of the Early Cretaceous Sauropod Astrodon
johnstoni
Leidy 1865 (Titanosauriformes) - Thunder Lizards: The
Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs. - Kenneth Carpenter & Virginia
Tidwell - 2005.