Dino card No. 1025 of 2,027

Leiodon

Say it: LIE-oh-don

Name means: “smooth tooth”1

Ate: MeatMosasaursLate CretaceousNot technically a dinosaur

Leiodon was a giant marine lizard that swam in the warm seas of the Late Cretaceous. It had smooth, curved teeth perfect for grabbing slippery fish and other sea creatures.1

Fun fact: this sea reptile swam while dinosaurs walked on land. Everyone calls them dinos, but they were a different branch of reptiles.

Lived

100 to 66 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

England, and also Antarctica, Brazil, France, Germany, Jordan, Morocco, Poland, Sweden, Syria, and Ukraine1 3

Food

Meat3

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Leiodon was first named by the famous scientist Richard Owen in 1841, based on just two tooth fragments and a bit of jawbone.1

The name Leiodon means 'smooth tooth' because the fossil teeth had a smooth and polished surface.1

Leiodon lived between about 100 and 66 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.3

Leiodon fossils have been found all over the world, including in Antarctica, Europe, Africa, and South America.3

Some scientists think Leiodon might not be a valid genus because its main fossil teeth are now lost, making it a 'nomen dubium' or doubtful name.1

Leiodon was one of the original genera used to define the family Mosasauridae in 1853.1

AI-made picture of Leiodon — An AI-made picture of how Leiodon might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

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Myth buster

Myth: Leiodon was a dinosaur.

Truth: Leiodon was not a dinosaur. It was a mosasaur, a type of giant marine lizard that lived in the ocean.1

For dino experts

Scientific name: Leiodon
Named by: Owen 18423
Group: Mosasaurs
Family / clade: Mosasauridae3
Classification: Mosasauroidea3
Age of the rocks: 100 to 66 million years (Cenomanian / Maastrichtian)3
Rock formations: López de Bertodano, Gramame, Opoka3
Countries: Syria, Antarctica, Brazil, Sweden, Poland, Germany3
Fossil records: 18 in the Paleobiology Database3
Discovery: Richard Owen named Leiodon in 1841 from two tooth fragments and a small jaw piece found in Essex, England.1
Still debated: Scientists are not sure if Leiodon is a valid genus because the original tooth fossils are missing, so it might be a 'nomen dubium' (doubtful name).1

Where the facts come from

Liodon (en.wikipedia.org)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Leiodon in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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