Phyllodon

Phyllodon (meaning "leaf tooth") is a genus of small ornithischian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) Camadas de Guimarota Formation of Leiria, Portugal and possibly also the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) Chipping Norton Limestone of England. It may have been closely related to contemporaneous ornithischian dinosaurs from North America. This genus is known from teeth and possibly partial lower jaws. The name is also in use for a genus of modern moss, but this is not considered to be a problem because the two organisms are in two different kingdoms.

==History== Phyllodon is based on MGSP G5, a partial lower jaw tooth recovered from a lignite marl in a mine near the city of Leiria. Richard Thulborn, who described the genus, added an upper beak tooth (MGSP G2). He regarded the new genus as a hypsilophodontid, and presented a conjectural restoration of the tooth arrangement. Peter Galton, reviewing Late Jurassic North American hypsilophodontids a few years later, found that the Phyllodon teeth best matched those of Nanosaurus, and agreed with a hypsilophodontid identity because the lower jaw tooth is asymmetric in front and back views.