Rhabdodon

Say it: RAB-doh-don

Name means: “rod tooth”1

Ate: PlantsBeaked plant-eatersLate Cretaceous

Rhabdodon was a plant-eating dinosaur that lived in Europe near the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. It had a strong beak for snipping leaves and walked on two legs, but could also drop to all fours. It was one of the biggest members of its family, the rhabdodontids.2 1

Lived

84 to 66 million years ago3

Late Cretaceous

Fossils found in

France, Spain, Romania, and Austria2 1

Food

Plants2 3

Length

4 to 6 m2

some specimens may have reached up to 6 m

Weight

250 kg2

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

How big was it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

Rhabdodon lived about 72 to 69 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period.2

Its name means 'rod tooth' because its teeth were shaped like little rods.1

Rhabdodon was big for a rhabdodontid, measuring about 4 metres (13 feet) long and weighing 250 kilograms (550 pounds). Some fossils suggest it could grow up to 6 metres (20 feet) long.2

Scientists once thought Rhabdodon was a dwarf dinosaur because it lived on islands, but new research shows it was actually a giant compared to its closest relatives.2

Rhabdodon shared its home with other dinosaurs like the sauropod Ampelosaurus and the carnivorous theropods Arcovenator and Pyroraptor.2

Fossils of Rhabdodon have been found in France, Spain, Romania, and Austria, showing it lived across much of southern Europe.2 1

The first Rhabdodon fossils were described by French paleontologist Philippe Matheron in 1869.2 3

AI-made picture of Rhabdodon — An AI-made picture of how Rhabdodon 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.

Myth buster

Myth: Rhabdodon was a small, weak dinosaur because it lived on islands.

Truth: Rhabdodon was actually one of the largest rhabdodontids, and scientists now think it grew big on the mainland, not as a dwarf on islands.2

For dino experts

Scientific name: Rhabdodon
Named by: Matheron 18693
Group: Beaked plant-eaters
Family / clade: Rhabdodontidae3
Classification: Ornithischia > Ornithopoda > Iguanodontia3
Age of the rocks: 84 to 66 million years (Campanian to Maastrichtian)3
Rock formations: Marnes Rouges Inférieures, Grès à Reptiles, Grünbach3
Countries: France, Spain, Romania, Austria3
Fossil records: 37 in the Paleobiology Database3
Also known as: Oligosaurus, Ornithomerus (older names now counted as the same animal)3
Discovery: Rhabdodon was named by French paleontologist Philippe Matheron in 1869 based on fossils from the Fuveau Basin in southern France. The name was originally spelled two ways, but the ICZN officially fixed it as Rhabdodon priscus in 1988.2 3
Still debated: Scientists are not sure whether Rhabdodon was a dwarf or a giant, because some fossils are much larger than others, and it lived on both islands and the mainland.2

Where the facts come from

Rhabdodon (nhm.ac.uk)
Rhabdodon (en.wikipedia.org)
Rhabdodon in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

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