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Iguanodon

Iguanodon

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Iguanodon Fossil range: Early Cretaceous, 130-120 Ma
Iguanodon bernissartensis depicted as a quadraped.
Scientific classification
Class	Reptilia
Superorder	Dinosauria
Order	Ornithischia
Suborder	Cerapoda
Infraorder	Ornithopoda
Family (Unranked)	Iguanodontia
Genus	Iguanodon Mantell, 1825
Species	I. bernissartensis Boulenger, 1881 (neotype) I. anglicus Holl, 1829 (nomen dubium) ?I. dawsoni Lydekker, 1888 ?I. fittoni Lydekker, 1889
Synonyms	?Heterosaurus Cornuel, 1850 Hikanodon Keferstein, 1834 "Iguanoides" Conybeare vide Cadbury, 2000 (nomen nudum) "Iguanosaurus" [Anonymous] 1824 (nomen nudum) "Proiguanodon" van den Broeck, 1900 (nomen nudum) ?Sphenospondylus Seeley, 1882 Therosaurus Fitzinger, 1840 ?Vectisaurus Hulke, 1879

Iguanodon (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.

Discovered in 1822 and described three years later by English geologist Gideon Mantell, Iguanodon was the second dinosaur formally named, after Megalosaurus. Together with Megalosaurus and Hylaeosaurus, it was one of the three genera originally used to define Dinosauria. A large, bulky herbivore, Iguanodon is a member of Iguanodontia, along with the duck-billed hadrosaurs. The taxonomy of this genus continues to be a topic of study as new species are named or long-standing ones reassigned to other genera.

Scientific understanding of Iguanodon has evolved over time as new information has been obtained from the fossils. The numerous specimens of this genus, including nearly complete skeletons from two well-known bonebeds, have allowed researchers to make informed hypotheses regarding many aspects of the living animal, including feeding, movement, and social behavior. As one of the first scientifically well-known dinosaurs, Iguanodon has occupied a small but notable place in the public's perception of dinosaurs, its artistic representation changing significantly in response to new interpretations of its remains.