User:Ichthyovenator/Liodon

Liodon is a dubious genus of mosasaur, a group of extinct aquatic squamate reptiles.

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The genus was first named as Leiodon by Owen in 1841-1845, described based on a small part of the jawbone and two fragmentary teeth. In 1846, Agassiz noted that the genus name was preoccupied and changed it to the similar Liodon.

Over the course of the later nineteenth century, more species of Liodon were described: L. sectorius in 1871 and L. mosasauroides and L. compressidens in 1892.

In 1993, Lingham-Soliar proposed that it would be possible to formally diagnose Liodon.

The type specimen of Liodon, the only fossil material that confidently represents L. anceps (BMNH 41639), is at present missing the two fragmentary teeth. Since the genus was based on diagnostic features found in the teeth, Schulp et al. (2008) designated the genus as a nomen dubium.

Examinations of fossil material referred to cf. Liodon anceps in Syria and Morocco, and comparisons with Prognathodon kianda, revealed that the tooth material was highly similar, whereafter Schulp et al. conducted closer examinations of the Liodon fossil material and compared it with that of Prognathodon. The three species of Liodon other than the type species were determined to represent distinct mosasaur species and on account of the dubious status of L. anceps, were all referred to Prognathodon by Schulp et al. (2008).