Mochlodon vorosi

Etymology: The generic name is derived from Greek mokhlos, “bar”, and odon, “tooth”, a reference to the bar-like median ridge on the dentary teeth, and species name after Attila Vörös, paleontologist and regular member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Mochlodon, with a body length no longer than 2 meters, was one of the smallest within the clade of rhabodontid ornithopod dinosaurs endemic to Europe. This small size, as indicated by the 20 cm long, small thigh bone, first suggested that it is a dwarf species, being indeed really small compared to the 6 meter long relative, Rhabdodonknown from western Europe. Detailed histological studies on the members of whole clade Rhabdodontidae clarified that small body size was characteristic for not only Mochlodon, but also for the ancestral forms of the clade indicating that the 6 meter long Rhabdodon became extremely large among the generally small bodied Late Cretaceous European dinosaurs.