Manidens

Manidens lived during the Middle Jurassic, about 171 to 167 million years ago, in a time when South America had many lakes and forests.1

Its name comes from the Latin words for 'hand' and 'tooth' because its last tooth looked like a tiny hand with fingers.1

Manidens is a heterodontosaurid, a group of small ornithischian dinosaurs that often had different types of teeth for different jobs.1

The only known skeleton of Manidens includes parts of the skull, jaws, backbone, shoulder, and hips, but not the tail or legs.1

Scientists think Manidens shows an intermediate step in the evolution of plant-eating: it had high tooth crowns but not the heavy wear facets that later relatives had.1

Manidens was one of the few ornithischian dinosaurs known from the Jurassic of South America, making it a rare find.1