#eotrachodon

By Jack Wood on @thewoodparable

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Name: Eotrachodon orientalis

Name Meaning: Dawn Rough Tooth 

First Described: 2016

Described By: Prieto-Marquez, Erickson and Ebersole

Classification: Dinosauria, Ornithischia, Genasauria, Neornithischia, Cerapoda, Ornithopoda, Iguanodontia, Dryomorpha, Ankylopollexia, Styracosterna, Hadrosauriformes, Hadrosauroidea, Hadrosauridae

Eotrachodon is a recently described genus of early derived Hadrosaurid, which is a very interesting find - most Hadrosaurids fall into one of two categories, Lambeosaurines or Saurolophines. Only Hadrosaurus and Lapampasaurus decidedly fall outside of those two groups but also within Hadrosauridae, with Lapampasaurus being more suspect. But Eotrachodon and Hadrosaurus both fall outside of the group and also both are known from Appalachia, a region not well known for its dinosaurs. As such it may indicate that Hadrosaurids as a group originated in Appalachia; migrating back to the Western portion of North America and then Asia after the divergence of the Lambeosaurines and Saurolophines. Eotrachodon has a lot of similarities to Saurolophines, indicating that the differences in Lambeosaurines were derived later, leading to the unique structures of their heads. 

Source:

Prieto-Marquez, A., G. M. Erickson, J. A. Ebersole. 2016. A primitive hadrosaurid from southeastern North America and the origin and early evolution of ‘duck-billed’ dinosaurs. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 36(2): e1054495.