Obamadon: Researchers Name Pre-historic Lizard After Smiling PresidentIn the foreground, the carnivorous lizard Palaeosaniwa stalks a pair of hatchling Edmontosaurus as the snake Cerberophis and the lizard Obamadon look on. In the background, an encounter between T. rex and Triceratops. (Handout - Artwork by Carl Buell)
December 11, 2012
Researchers have named a newly discovered, pre-historic lizard Obamadon gracilis in honor of the 44th president's toothy grin.
The small, insect-eating lizard was first discovered in eastern Montana in 1974, but a recent re-examination showed the fossil had been wrongly classified as a Leptochamops denticulatus and was, in fact, a new species, researchers told Reuters on Tuesday.
Obamadon gracilis was one of nine newly discovered species reported on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In naming the new species, scientists from Yale and Harvard universities combined the Latin ``Obamadon'' for ``Obama's teeth'' and ``gracilis,'' which means slender.
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