Hadrosaurid tooth

Taxonomy

Duckbill

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Ornithischia
Family: Hadrosauridae
Genus: Edmontosaurus
Species: Edmontosaurus annectens
Author Citation Marsh 1892

Geological Time Scale

Eon: Phanerozoic
Era: Mesozoic
Period: Cretaceous
Sub Period: None
Epoch: Late
International Age: Maastrichtian

Stratigraphy

Hell Creek Formation

Provenance

Collector: N. Pearson
Acquired by: Field Collection

Dimensions

Length: 36 mm

Location

Garfield County
Montana
United States

• duckbill
• edmontosaurus
• edmontosaurus annectens
• hadrosaur
• hadrosauridae
• hell creek
• hell creek formation

Comments

Hadrosaurs “duckbills” were one of the most successful and interesting dinosaurs in the Cretaceous. Edmontosaurus was a large hadrosaur, comparable to Triceratops in its abundance. They could grow to the size of T. rex and could’ve lived in large herds hundreds strong, as indicated by massive bone beds. They were absolute eating machines with highly sophisticated teeth rivaling the tissue complexity of mammals, and mobile skulls allowing for a range of chewing motions. Some of the most common dinosaur fossils in the HCF are their teeth; they possessed hundreds of teeth in their mouths at a time, constantly grinding them down root and all.

Identification: Their teeth are generally lanceolate or diamond-like in shape, with a central apicobasal ridge. They are usually very symmetric about the long axis of the tooth. There is no cingulum and they have smoother enamel than ceratopsids.

References:

Gregory M. Erickson et al., Complex Dental Structure and Wear Biomechanics in Hadrosaurid Dinosaurs. Science 338, 98-101 (2012). DOI:10.1126/science.1224495

Mallon JC, Anderson JS (2014) The Functional and Palaeoecological Implications of Tooth Morphology and Wear for the Megaherbivorous Dinosaurs from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Upper Campanian) of Alberta, Canada. PLoS ONE 9(6): e98605. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0098605

LeBlanc, A.R.H., Reisz, R.R., Evans, D.C. et al. Ontogeny reveals function and evolution of the hadrosaurid dinosaur dental battery. BMC Evol Biol 16, 152 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-016-0721-1