| Diclonius Temporal range: Late Cretaceous |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Sauropsida |
| Superorder: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | Ornithischia |
| Suborder: | Ornithopoda |
| Infraorder: | Iguanodontia |
| Superfamily: | Hadrosauroidea |
| Family: | Hadrosauridae |
| Genus: | Diclonius Cope, 1876 |
| Species | |
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Diclonius (meaning "double sprout") is a genus of dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous. It was a hadrosaur based solely on teeth. Its fossils have been found in North America. The name is in reference to the method of tooth replacement, in which newly erupting replacement teeth could be in functional use at the same time as older, more worn teeth. Thus, the number of "sprouting" teeth was doubled in comparison to Monoclonius ("single sprout"), which used only one set of teeth at a time and which Cope named in the same paper.[1]
The type species, Diclonius pentagonus, is a nomen nudum discovered by Cope in 1876. Other formally undescribed species include D. calamarius and D. perangulatus. A "fourth" species has been reclassified as Anatotitan. They are all tooth taxa, known only from teeth and one jaw.
Although Cope referred several other batches of teeth to the genus, under several species, the name is considered a nomen dubium.
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Type:
Other Species:
*Note: Diclonius mirabilis is actually the assignment of Trachodon mirabilis to Diclonius by Cope (1883).
Diclonius is also the name of a human-like race from the anime series Elfen Lied. However, in the context of the anime, it is assumedly a specific name (i.e. Homo diclonius) than the generic name used for the Hadrosaur.