(Reuters) – Researchers at Yale University have named a newly discovered dinosaur Obamadon gracilis in honour 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 yesterday.
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, Yale scientists combined the Latin “Obamadon” for “Obama’s teeth” and “gracilis,” which means slender.
“The lizard has these very tall, straight teeth and Obama has these tall, straight incisors and a great smile,” said Nick Longrich, a paleontologist at the school in New Haven, Connecticut.
