New Jersey's Diplotomodon!

Image from Jurassic Park Institute.

In 1865, paleontologist Joseph Leidy described an isolated tooth found in Gloucester County, New Jersey. He believed it to be a marine reptile at first and named the beast Tomodon. As fate would have it, Joseph Leidy later changed the name to Diplotomodon in 1868 because the original name had been taken for another animal. Ironically enough, a dinosaur by the name of Dryptosaurus would suffer this same name ordeal years later.  Diplotomodon means "double cutting tooth." It lived during the same time as Dryptosaurus.  

In 1870, paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope described the tooth and believed it to be from a carnivorous dinosaur.  This idea is pretty much shared today.  Today, the tooth is mostly regarded as a nomen dubium or simply put, an unknown.  The sad part of this story is that although the tooth was described and photographed, it was lost. Hopefully in the future more will be discovered, but only time will tell.

Works Cited:

Gallagher, William B. When Dinosaurs Roamed New Jersey. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 1997. 104, 110. Print.

New Jersey's Dinosaurs On A Jurassic Park Website?

Wow...remember the Jurassic Park Institute website?  For those of you who don't, the following article appeared in a 12/01/2001 issue of THE Journal:

Universal Studios has launched the Jurassic Park Institute (JPI), a science-based and educationally focused program that will include a Web site, a dinosaur-themed in-school program, traveling dinosaur-themed museum exhibits, and an online kids club in partnership with education.com. Working with some of the world's leading paleontologists, JPI will be factual and scientifically accurate.

The first phase of the institute's development is the launch of http://www.jpinstitute.com/, a Web site that features a variety of news, information, games, activities and guides for dinosaur enthusiasts. Visitors will find the latest dinosaur news, ranging from recent discoveries, to editorials from leading paleontologists, to entertainment news. Students will also be able to play a variety of dinosaur-themed games, and search through the Dinopedia to learn about their favorite dinosaurs and the world in which they lived. They can also locate dinosaur exhibits in their local areas. Beginning in early 2002, the site will be expanded to include a dynamic, in-school program. A series of traveling dinosaur exhibits is also set to begin in spring 2002.

The institute continues with the launch of JPI Rangers Club, a membership-based site located in education.com's KidSpace channel. The club will provide members with exclusive educational online games and activities, an online journal and more. Universal Studios, Hollywood, CA, http://www.universalstudios.com/.

I remember logging onto this awesome site on a daily basis and couldn't wait to see what was new!  I hope one day we will see this amazing site resurrected.  It really was a great idea and the possibilities could have been endless.  One part I remember most from The Jurassic Park Institute was a section called "DINOPEDIA".  On this page, you could access information on pretty much any dinosaur known at the time.  You could even look up three dinosaurs from New Jersey!  Well, Diplotomodon today is mostly considered a nomen dubium, which basically means "unknown."  Below are the cards from the site that are no longer accessible.  Enjoy!