#sauropodomorpha

[cypressure]

Saturnalia tupinquim portrait

[alphynix]

Isisaurus colberti was a sauropod dinosaur that lived in what is now India and Pakistan at the end of the Cretaceous Period, about 70-66 million years ago.

It was part of the titanosaur group of sauropods and had some unusual proportions* compared to its close relatives, with elongated forelimbs and a relatively short chunky neck. Since it's only known from a partial skeleton its full size is unknown – estimates have been made as large as 18m long (~60') but it was probably somewhat smaller, closer to around 11m in length (36').

(*Measurement errors in the original paper resulted in some very weird proportions, but more recent and rigorous reconstructions have made Isisaurus not quite so cursed-looking.)

Like most other titanosaurs it probably lacked the thumb claws seen in other sauropods, and it may also have had some bony osteoderm armor studding its skin.

Coprolites that may represent Isisaurus' poop show evidence of several different fungi that grow on tree leaves in humid tropical and subtropical climates, suggesting that this sauropod was a selective browser somewhat like modern giraffes.

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References:

Jain, Sohan L., and Saswati Bandyopadhyay. "New titanosaurid (Dinosauria: sauropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of central India." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 17.1 (1997): 114-136. https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1997.10010958

Naish, Darren. "The hands of sauropods: horseshoes, spiky columns, stumps and banana shapes." Tetrapod Zoology, 29 Oct. 2008, https://web.archive.org/web/20121022121526/http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2008/10/29/the-hands-of-sauropods/

Sharma, Neeta, et al. "Fungi in dinosaurian (Isisaurus) coprolites from the Lameta Formation (Maastrichtian) and its reflection on food habit and environment." Micropaleontology 51.1 (2005): 73-82. https://doi.org/10.2113/51.1.73

Wedel, Matt. "How shortweird was Isisaurus?" Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week, Aug. 13 2009, https://svpow.com/2009/08/13/how-shortweird-was-isisaurus/

Wikipedia contributors. “Isisaurus” Wikipedia, 27 Dec. 2024, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isisaurus

Wilson, Jeffrey A., and Paul Upchurch. "A revision of Titanosaurus Lydekker (Dinosauria‐Sauropoda), the first dinosaur genus with a ‘Gondwanan’ distribution." Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 1.3 (2003): 125-160. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1477201903001044

[hasellia]

2026 DrawDinosDaily

Day 76, Marchosauria: Rinconsaurus caudamirus

Decided to try this late into the day, so I didn't do too much research on Rinconsaurus before starting. I wish I did, the Bajo de la Carpa Formation has SUCH a richly preserved biota. Deserving of much more than generic canyon walls! The one time I remember to draw conifers, it's for a mesozoic ecosystem that had freaking grasses and palm trees! I tried to add in some of the earliest flightless bird (that we know of), Patagopteryx deferrariisi.

[stavrosskundromichalis]

Glacialisaurus hammeri considers moving to warmer climates in Early Jurassic Antarctica

[wiles-art-blog]

Design a dinosaur attack on artfight for okami-sable.

[new-dinosaurs]

Lishulong wangi Zhang et al., 2024 (new genus and species)

(Skull of Lishulong wangi, from Zhang et al., 2024)

Meaning of name: Lishulong = Lishu dragon [in Chinese]; wangi = for Wang Zheng-Ju [Chinese fossil hunter]

Age: Early Jurassic (Sinemurian–Toarcian)

Where found: Lufeng Formation, Yunnan, China

How much is known: Partial skull and nine neck vertebrae of one individual.

Notes: Lishulong was an early sauropodomorph. Although many Early Jurassic sauropodomorphs have been named from the Lufeng Formation, Lishulong is the largest one yet found among them, and differs from the others in details of its skull and neck vertebrae. It appears to be closely related to fellow Lufeng sauropodomorph Yunnanosaurus.

Reference: Zhang, Q.-N., L. Jia, T. Wang, Y.-G. Zhang, and H.-L. You. 2024. The largest sauropodomorph skull from the Lower Jurassic Lufeng Formation of China. PeerJ 12: e18629. doi: 10.7717/peerj.18629

[opabinia--regalis]

ok here's some dinosaur yappery, why i think ornithoscelida is the most parsimonious explanation for numerous aspects of early dinosaur evolution:

phylogeny from crown aves up to the base of archosauria (as i mentioned i no longer regard this placement of lagerpetidae as accurate but that's a minor detail):

[neovenatorgirlteeth]

DINOVEMBER 2/13: Musankwa sanyatiensis

No.2, finally. On the 7th. This is why I didn't give myself one every day folks.

This sauropodomorph was discovered near the top of Zimbabwe's Pebbly Arkose formation, dating back to around 225Ma ago. The description of the specimen, a partial leg bone, was published in May of this year by Barrett et al. It's nothing too special morphology and phylogeny wise, falling slap bang halfway between the most basal sauropodomorphs (like its compatriot Mbiresaurus) and the sauropods proper. It doesn't appear to be particularly large or small for a "prosauropod", but it's nice to have another Triassic species and an addition to the poorly studied palaeofauna of Africa. Even if the lead scientist on the paper was one of the European scientists working on the specimen and not the Zimbabwean ones. A bit yikes.

I decided to give this male some neck quills, I love a sauropodomorph neck quill, and a funky throat patch as well. I also tried to give him a dynamic pose but it didn't work out for me, so I did a more standard side shot.