Obamadon

Obamadon is an extinct genus of polyglyphanodontian lizards from the Late Cretaceous of North America. Fossils have been found in the Hell Creek Formation of Montana and the Lance Formation of Wyoming. Researchers describe it as being distinguished by its "tall, slender teeth with large central cusps separated from small accessory cusps by lingual grooves." The type species was named Obamadon gracilis after United States president Barack Obama, "in reference to the tall, straight teeth, and the manner in which Mr. Obama has acted as a role model of good oral hygiene for the world." According to Nicholas R. Longrich of Yale University, the species "was probably a foot long, [and] with these tall, slender teeth it used to eat insects and plant matter."

Etymology

Obamadon is not the first organism to be named after U.S. President Barack Obama. Other researchers have given his name to Etheostoma obama, the spangled darter or "Obamafish", and the lichen Caloplaca obamae. According to Longrich, he came up with the idea after the 2008 election: "when everything was all hope-y and change-y, we said we should name a dinosaur after him and call it the Obamadon." ==Description==

Description

Obamadon is known from two lower jaw fragments, each less than a centimeter in length. One was found in the collections of the University of California Museum of Paleontology after having been collected from the Hell Creek Formation in Montana, and the other collected from the Lance Formation in Wyoming. When it was first named in 2012, Obamadon was identified as a member of the extinct group Polyglyphanodontia on the basis of a V-shaped connection between the two halves of the lower jaw, a slot-and-ridge type connection between the dentary bone of the lower jaw and another missing bone called the splenial bone, and teeth that are implanted within the jaw bone. Its jaw is thin and straight, unlike the curved jaws of most other polyglyphanodontians. ==Classification==

Classification

Obamadon is a primitive member of Polyglyphanodontia, a clade of lizards that became extinct after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Its jaw material was once assigned to Leptochamops, a more derived genus of polyglyphanodontian. }} ==See also==

Source: Wikipedia ↗

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