Pronunciation: FRU-tah-denz
Meaning: Fruita tooth
Author/s: Butler, Galton et al. (2010)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Fruita, Colorado
Discovery Chart Position: #724
Fruitadens haagarorum
(Haaga's Fruita tooth)Etymology
Fruitadens is derived from "Fruita" (for the City in Colorado where it was discovered) and the Latin "dens" (tooth).
The species epithet, haagarorum, honors the Haaga family (Paul Haaga Jr, Heather Haaga, Blythe Haaga, Paul Haaga III and Catalina Haaga), for their support of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
Discovery
The first remains of Fruitadens were discovered in the Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation at "locality 4684", west of Fruita City, 19 km northwest of Grand Junction, Mesa County, Colorado, USA, by J. M. Clark during a George Callison-led expedition in August 1977. The holotype (LACM 115747) includes incomplete upper and lower jaws, several vertebrae from the neck, back, hip and tail, both ends of both shins, and a partial right metatarsal. A partial right thigh was initially included too, but it actually belongs to a crocodylomorph called Macelognathus.
Referred specimens LACM 128258 (a partial upper jaw, lower jaw, back and tail vertebra from a juvenile), LACM 120602 (a tail vertebra, a left ankle and heel, and foot and toe bones) collected in June 1985, and LACM 128303 (a poorly preserved left lower jaw with five teeth) collected in 1981, were also found at "Locality 4684" which, as it turns out, is a generic locality "tag" for FPA (Fruita Paleontological Area) specimens that can't be traced to a specific quarry.
LACM 115727 (fragmentary vertebrae of the neck, back and tail, parts of both thighs, and a partial shin attached to an ankle) was found at locality 5576 ("George's 'Coelurosaur' Site") in July/August 1979, while LACM 120478 (a left upper arm, a partial left thigh, and an articulated shin, calf, ankle and heel from a juvenile) was found at locality 5572 (the "Main Callison Quarry"), also in July/August 1979. All referred specimens were found by George Callison-led teams from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in the Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation, west of Fruita City.
Callison described these fossils as intermediate fabrosaur remains in 1984, but three years later referred them to Echinodon as Echinodon sp. Richard Butler and colleagues renamed them Fruitadens haagarorum in 2010.
