Issi
"cold"
Type species Issi saaneq
- Lived
- 227 to 206 million years ago, Late Triassic
- Group
- Early sauropodomorphs, Plateosauridae
- Found in
- Greenland
- Named by
- Beccari et al. 2021
Where its fossils were found
The evidence
Today
220 million years ago
Habitat
It lived beside shallow lakes and broad mudflats in what is now Greenland. The lakes shrank or dried out during dry seasons.
Field notes
About Issi
What it was like
Issi was an early relative of the giant sauropods, a plant eater with a long neck and a small head. It was a close relative of Plateosaurus and probably walked on its hind legs. It is known from two skulls and some other bones.
Its world
It lived in the Late Triassic in what is now Greenland. At that time Greenland lay much farther south and was joined to Europe and North America in the supercontinent Pangaea. Its bones come from rocks of the Malmros Klint layer.
How it was found
Its bones were first thought to belong to Plateosaurus. Beccari and colleagues gave it its own name in 2021. The type species is Issi saaneq, meaning "cold bone" in the language of Greenland.
Field gallery
More views of Issi
Scenes reconstructed from the available fossil evidence.
1 of 3
The evidence
The science behind Issi
Which parts of the picture come from its own bones, and which come from its relatives.
From its own fossils
- The named specimens are a pair of nearly complete skulls, with the bones still joined together.
- A tall bone at the jaw hinge and a projecting tab behind the lower jaw help distinguish it from Plateosaurus.
Borrowed from relatives
- Plateosaurus provides a model for the long neck, trunk, limbs and tail in a full-body restoration.
Still unknown
- Its adult skull shape and full-grown size.
- Its skin texture and color.
- Which plants it ate.
Discovery timeline
- 2020Its worldClemmensen et al.
- 2021Named itBeccari et al.
- 2021Fossil sitesKent & Clemmensen
Key papers
The research behind what we know of Issi
Its world
Revised the rock layers containing Greenland's early dinosaurs and described lakes whose water levels changed with the climate.
Triassic lithostratigraphy of the Jameson Land Basin (central East Greenland), with emphasis on the new Fleming Fjord Group. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark 68: 95-132
Read the paper : Triassic lithostratigraphy of the Jameson Land Basin (central East Greenland), with emphasis on the new Fleming Fjord Group (opens in a new tab)Named it
Used the skulls of growing animals to distinguish Issi from Plateosaurus and identify it as a close relative.
Issi saaneq gen. et sp. nov.—A New Sauropodomorph Dinosaur from the Late Triassic (Norian) of Jameson Land, Central East Greenland. Diversity 13: 561
Read the paper : Issi saaneq gen. et sp. nov.—A New Sauropodomorph Dinosaur from the Late Triassic (Norian) of Jameson Land, Central East Greenland (opens in a new tab)Fossil sites
Dated the arrival of sauropodomorphs in Greenland and proposed that falling carbon dioxide levels eased climate barriers to their spread.
Northward dispersal of dinosaurs from Gondwana to Greenland at the mid-Norian (215–212 Ma, Late Triassic) dip in atmospheric p CO 2. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118
Read the paper : Northward dispersal of dinosaurs from Gondwana to Greenland at the mid-Norian (215–212 Ma, Late Triassic) dip in atmospheric p CO 2 (opens in a new tab)
Close relatives
Other members of Plateosauridae
Sources: Wikidata