Astrodon facts for kids
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Astrodon
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Astrodon (meaning "star-tooth") was a long-necked plant-eating dinosaur, a relation of Brachiosaurus. The sauropod was about 30 feet (9 m) long. It lived during the Lower Cretaceous period, about 130 million to 120 million years ago. Astrodon is known from teeth and scattered bones found in Maryland. Astrodon is the state dinosaur of Maryland. Astrodon was named by Johnston in 1859. The type species is A. johnstoni. Astrodon may be the same as Pleurocoelus.
Carpenter and Tidwell (2005) accepted Hatcher's argument that there is only one species of sauropod dinosaur known from the Arundel Formation and that Astrodon johnstoni is it. Interestingly, the majority of the bones of Astrodon are of juveniles, and Carpenter and Tidwell considered the two species named by Marsh, P. nanus and P. altus, as different growth stages of Astrodon johnstoni.
Images for kids
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Astrodon holotype tooth
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Plate XIII from Cretaceous Reptiles of the United States, showing teeth of Astrodon on the bottom left
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Vertebrae of P. nanus
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Skeleton of a juvenile in Maryland
See also
In Spanish: Astrodon johnstoni para niños
