Isisaurus

Isisaurus (*)

Isisaurus Fossil range: Late Cretaceous
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Sauropsida Superorder: Dinosauria Order: Saurischia Suborder: Sauropodomorpha (unranked): Titanosauria Family: Saltasauridae Genus: Isisaurus Wilson & Upchurch, 2003
Species
I. colberti (Jain & Bandyopadhyay, 1997) (type)

Isisaurus (named after the Indian Statistical Institute) 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, Isisaurus colberti, was originally described as Titanosaurus colberti by Jain and Bandyopadhyay in 1997, but was placed in its own genus, by Wilson and Upchurch, in 2003. It had a "short, vertically-directed neck and long forearms", making it considerably different from other sauropods. Based on this specimen, Isisaurus would have grown to about 18 meters (60 feet) in length and weighed about 14,000 kg (15 tons).[1] Isisaurus is known from much better remains than most titanosaurs. Most of its postcranial skeleton is known.

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.

References

1. ^ 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.

* Fungi in dinosaurian (Isisaurus) coprolites from the Lameta Formation (Maastrichtian) and its reflection on food habit and environment http://micropal.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/51/1/73

Links

• Saltasauridae from Thescelosaurus!
• Isisaurus in the Dino Directory.