Diplotomodon is a type of dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period, about 70 to 66 million years ago.
The name “Diplotomodon” means “double cutting tooth.” This dinosaur is known from only a single tooth that was found in New Jersey. The tooth was discovered near a place called Mullica Hill, in rocks that are part of marine deposits from the Maastrichtian stage.
The tooth was first described by a scientist named Joseph Leidy in 1865. He initially thought it belonged to a marine reptile, like a plesiosaur. This was before it was recognized as a dinosaur. The name he used at first was “Tomodon,” but he changed it to Diplotomodon in 1868 because the original name was already taken. The specific name “horrificus” comes from Latin and means “dreadful,” which might refer to its sharp tooth.
The tooth measures about three inches long and is broad, flat, and symmetrical. It is a unique shape and does not curve.
In the early 1870s, another scientist named Edward Drinker Cope suggested that this tooth belonged to a carnivorous dinosaur, marking a shift in how it was understood. Over the years, different scientists have debated what kind of dinosaur Diplotomodon really was. Some believed it was similar to the famous Tyrannosaurus, while others thought it might be related to different dinosaur groups.
Today, most experts see Diplotomodon as a “nomen dubium,” which means it is hard to classify because we have so little evidence about it.
In simple terms, Diplotomodon is a dinosaur known only by a single tooth, and there is still a lot of mystery surrounding it.