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Mantell, Gideon (1790-1852)
Mantell, Gideon 1790-1852 (portait ca.1833)
Gideon Mantell (1790-1852) was English doctor, geologist, and paleontologist who worked on Cretaceous strata in England. Between 1822-1832, he discovered and named two dinosaur genera found in southern England, Iguanodon and Hylaeosaurus. In 1822 found the first fossil Iguanodon teeth, and in 1825 identified these as similar to those of a herbivorous reptile such as the Iguana, for which he named the fossil species ("Iguana teeth"). In 1832 Mantell discovered Hylaeosaurus ("forest lizard"), an armored herbivore or ankylosaur about 5 meters long, dating from the Early Cretaceous period (ca. 140-136 mya).
Iguanadon and Hylaeosaurus were used as examples in the first definition of dinosaurs (dinosauria or "terrible lizards") by Owen (1842), curator at the British Museum. Owen, however, misidentified some traits of the Iguanodon that Mantell had correctly identified, such as the shortened forelimbs and the frequently standing posture to reach vegetation in trees. Owen (who over the years, tended to make certain enemies, including Darwin and Huxley) also failed to credit Mantell with discovery of Hylaeosaurus, claiming it instead for himself.
Mantell,
who became a member of the British Royal Society, wrote several books
on paleontology which were detailed, accurate for his day, and written
for a general audience. These include The Geology of the South-East of England, published in 1833, which described his findings of Hylaeosaurus.
References
Mantell, G.A. 1833. The Geology of the South-East of England. Longman Ltd., London
Mantell, G.A., 1841. Memoir on a portion of the lower jaw of the Iguanodon and on the remains of the Hylaeosaurus and other saurians, discovered in the strata of Tilgate Forest, in Sussex. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 131: 131–151
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