Isisaurus

Isisaurus
Temporal range: Late Cretaceous, 70Ma
↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Suborder: †Sauropodomorpha
Clade: †Titanosauria
Clade: †Lithostrotia
Family: †Antarctosauridae
Genus: †Isisaurus
Wilson & Upchurch, 2003
Species: †I. colberti
(Jain & Bandyopadhyay, 1997) [originally Titanosaurus]
Synonyms

Isisaurus (named after the Indian Statistical Institute[1]) is a genus of dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period. Isisaurus was a sauropod (specifically a titanosaur), which lived in what is now India.

The type specimen of Isisaurus colberti, ISI R 335/1-65, was originally described and named as Titanosaurus colberti by Sohan Lal Jain and Saswati Bandyopadhyay in 1997, the specific name honouring Edwin Harris Colbert,[2][3] but was placed in its own genus, by Wilson and Upchurch, in 2003.[4] It had a "bizarre" appearance with a short, vertically directed neck and long forelimbs,[5] making it considerably different from other sauropods. The humerus is 148 centimetres long.[2] Based on this specimen, Isisaurus would have grown to about 18 meters (60 feet) in length and weighed about 14,000 kg (15 tons).[6]

Isisaurus is known from much better remains than most titanosaurs.[5] Most of its postcranial skeleton is known. The skeletal material Jain and Bandyopadhyay found between 1984 and 1986 was "in associated and mostly articulated condition;" it included cervical, dorsal, sacral and caudal vertebrae, ribs, pelvis, scapula, coracoid, left forelimb and other bones, though skull, hindlimb and foot bones were missing.[2] The site locality is Dongargaon Hill, which is in a Maastrichtian crevasse splay claystone in the Lameta Formation of India.[3] Dongargaon Hill is at Manjar Sumba, Maharashtra.

Fungus in coprolites believed to have been voided by Isisaurus indicate that it ate leaves from several species of tree, since these fungi are known to be pathogens which infect tree leaves.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "The 10 Ugliest Dinosaurs". about.com. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Jain, Sohan L.; Bandyopadhyay, Saswati (1997). "New Titanosaurid (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of Central India". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology (Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma) 17 (1): 114. doi:10.1080/02724634.1997.10010958.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Isisaurus colberti". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
  4. ↑ Wilson, Jeffrey A.; Upchurch, P. (2003). "A revision of Titanosaurus Lydekker (Dinosauria – Sauropoda), the first dinosaur genus with a 'Gondwanan' distribution" (PDF). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press) 1 (3): 125–160. doi:10.1017/s1477201903001044. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Tweet, Justin. "Lithostrotia". Thescelosaurus. Retrieved December 31, 2012.
  6. ↑ Montague J.R. (2006). "Estimates of body size and geological time of origin for 612 dinosaur genera (Saurischia, Ornithischia)", Florida Scientist. 69(4): 243-257.
  7. ↑ Sharma, N., Kar, R.K., Agarwal, A. and Kar, R. (2005). "Fungi in dinosaurian (Isisaurus) coprolites from the Lameta Formation (Maastrichtian) and its reflection on food habit and environment." Micropaleontology, 51(1): 73-82.

External links