Rhabdodontomorpha is a clade of basal iguanodont dinosaurs. This group was named in 2016 in the context of the description, based on Spanish findings of an early member of the Rhabdodontidae. A cladistic analysis was conducted in which it was found that Muttaburrasaurus was the sister species of the Rhabdodontidae sensu Weishampel. Therefore, Paul-Emile Dieudonné, Thierry Tortosa, Fidel Torcida Fernández-Baldor, José Ignacio Canudo and Ignacio Díaz-Martínez defined Rhabdodontomorpha as a nodal clade: the group consisting of the last common ancestor of Rhabdodon priscus Matheron, 1869 and Muttaburrasaurus langdoni Bartholomai and Molnar, 1981; and all its descendants. Within the clade Zalmoxes and Mochlodon are also included.[1] The clade is characterized by the following synapomorphies:[2]
Rhabdodontomorpha Temporal range: Cretaceous,
| |
---|---|
Muttaburrasaurus mount at the Queensland Museum | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Dinosauria |
Clade: | †Ornithischia |
Clade: | †Ornithopoda |
Clade: | †Iguanodontia |
Clade: | †Rhabdodontomorpha Dieudonné et al., 2016 |
Subgroups | |
The group consists of small to large plant eaters from Europe and Gondwana. It must have split from other iguanodont groups during the Middle Jurassic.[1] In 2020, the Australian iguanodont Fostoria was also found to belong to this clade.[2] Iani, described in 2023, is interpreted as a transitional taxon between Tenontosaurus and Rhabdodontidae.[3]