Bibliographic details for "Iguanodon"
guanodon (pronounced
/ɪˈgwɑːnədɒn/ or
/ɪgjʊˈɑːnədɒn/, meaning "
Iguana tooth") is a
genus of
ornithopod dinosaur that lived roughly halfway between the first of the swift
bipedal hypsilophodontids and the ornithopods' culmination in the
duck-billed dinosaurs. Many species of
Iguanodon have been named, dating from the
Kimmeridgian age of the
Late Jurassic Period to the
Cenomanian age of the
Late Cretaceous Period from
Asia,
Europe, and
North America. However, research in the first decade of the 2000s suggests that there is only one well-substantiated species:
I. bernissartensis, that lived from the
Barremian to the early
Aptian (
Early Cretaceous) in
Europe, between about 130 and 120 million years ago.
Iguanodon's most distinctive features were its large
thumb spikes, which were possibly used for defence against
predators.
