Dinosauria
Ornithischia
Cerapoda
Ornithopoda
Iguanodontia
Dryomorpha
Ankylopollexia
Styracosterna
Hadrosauriformes
(aka Iguanodontoidea)
Iguanodontidae
Pronunciation: i-GWAHN-o-don-tuh-day
Author: Paul Gervais
Year: Sometime between 1848 and 1852
Etymology: Latin "Iguana" (from the Carib "iwana) + Greek "odon" (tooth) + Latin "-idae" (family)
Locomotion: bipedal
Synonyms: Iguanodontodea (Gilmore 1909)?
Author: Paul Gervais
Year: Sometime between 1848 and 1852
Etymology: Latin "Iguana" (from the Carib "iwana) + Greek "odon" (tooth) + Latin "-idae" (family)
Locomotion: bipedal
Synonyms: Iguanodontodea (Gilmore 1909)?
Definition
The most inclusive clade containing Iguanodon bernissartensis but not Parasaurolophus walkeri.
About
Iguanodontidae was coined sometime between 1848 and 1852. It was actually printed as Iguanodontidés (with a French accent at the end) which is no suprise given that it was named by Frenchman Paul Gervais who is officially credited as author by the ICZN.
It seems Gervais may have coined the term completely by accident because he didn't seem particularly sure what a dinosaur actually was. At around this time he still figured Poekiopleuron bucklandi to be a weird crocodile and Aepisaurus elephantinus as close to mosasaurids.
Funnily enough, he also coined Mégalosauridés (also with French accents) sometime between 1841 and 1852 and used the correct Megalosauridae in print in 1853, but he was beaten to the punch by Fitzinger who had erected the family name "Megalosauri" for Megalosaurus in 1843 even though Megalosaurus had no known family at the time.
Iguanodontians are a near global group of ornithopods of varying sizes that are known from the Late Jurassic right through to the Late Cretaceous.
Click here to search Dinochecker for iguanodontians.
Relationships
References
• David B. Norman (2004) "Basal Iguanodontia" in "The Dinosauria: Second Edition".
