Succinodon putzeri was a name given to a fossil thought to be part of a dinosaur.
This name means “narrow jaw.”
The fossil was discovered in Poland in 1941 by a paleontologist named Friedrich von Huene.
He believed it was a jaw bone from a giant dinosaur known as a sauropod, specifically from a group called Titanosauridae.
However, in 1981, two Polish scientists, Krystyna Pożaryska and Halina Pugaczewska, found out that this fossil was actually something very different.
They discovered that the fossil was a piece of fossilized wood.
This wood had burrows made by small marine animals called bivalves.
These bivalves are members of the family Teredinidae, likely from a genus known as Kuphus.
So, what seemed like a dinosaur jaw turned out to be a fascinating piece of ancient wood instead!
This shows how science can uncover surprising truths about our planet’s history.