Pronunciation: ah-shen-o-SOR-us
Meaning: Aachen lizard
Author/s: Gerard Smets (1888)
Synonyms: Aachenoxylon (Hovelacque, 1890)
First Discovery: Moresnet, Belgium
Discovery Chart Position: #
Aachenosaurus multidens
Aachenosaurus was named on the strength of two fossilized fragments that were originally thought to be parts of a duck-billed hadrosaur, possibly five meters long, bipedal, and covered with dermal spines according to its discoverer.
However, the fossils turned out to be lumps of petrified wood from the Aachen deposits of Moresnet, a roughly triangular tiny European mini-state on the border of Germany, Belgium, and Holland. Funnily enough, non of them seemed particularly keen to stake their claim until the discovery of a zinc-rich mine at Vieille Montagne, at which point Belgium got out their geometry set and expanded their territory by a couple of miles.
Abbey Gerald Smets, a doctor of natural sciences and professor at the Collège Saint-Joseph in Hasselt, was absolutely adamant that his discovery had been properly scrutinized with the naked eye, magnifying lens and microscope. But when his claims were rubbished by Louis Dollo and a neutral commission including professional botonist Dr Maurice Hovelacquehe who used the fragments to raise two new plant species (Aachenoxylon and Nicolia Moresne), he withdrew from science due to pure embarrassment and faded into the mists of time.
However, the fossils turned out to be lumps of petrified wood from the Aachen deposits of Moresnet, a roughly triangular tiny European mini-state on the border of Germany, Belgium, and Holland. Funnily enough, non of them seemed particularly keen to stake their claim until the discovery of a zinc-rich mine at Vieille Montagne, at which point Belgium got out their geometry set and expanded their territory by a couple of miles.
Abbey Gerald Smets, a doctor of natural sciences and professor at the Collège Saint-Joseph in Hasselt, was absolutely adamant that his discovery had been properly scrutinized with the naked eye, magnifying lens and microscope. But when his claims were rubbished by Louis Dollo and a neutral commission including professional botonist Dr Maurice Hovelacquehe who used the fragments to raise two new plant species (Aachenoxylon and Nicolia Moresne), he withdrew from science due to pure embarrassment and faded into the mists of time.
Etymology
"Aachenosaurus" is derived from "Aachen" (for the Aachen deposits of Moresnet where it was discovered) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard). The species epithet, multidens, is derived from the Latin "multus" (many) and "dens" (teeth), though we're not sure how many teeth a tree has!
