Isaberrysaura
|
Isaberrysaura Temporal range: Bajocian, 168 Ma |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Skull and teeth | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Dinosauria |
| Order: | †Ornithischia |
| Clade: | †Neornithischia |
| Genus: |
†Isaberrysaura Salgado et al., 2017 |
| Type species | |
|
Isaberrysaura mollensis Salgado et al., 2017 |
|
Isaberrysaura is a genus of ornithischian dinosaur from the Early Jurassic of Patagonia, Argentina. The genus contains a single species, I. mollensis, described by Salgado et al. in 2017 from a single specimen described in 2017. It has a skull that is convergent upon the Stegosauridae, although it is considered to be a basal neornithischian.
Isaberrysaura's teeth are heterodont, indicating it might have had a mixed diet. Isaberrysaura is also estimated to have measured around 5–6 m (16–20 ft), making it of moderate size.
The skull in particular is very unusual; it is estimated to be 52 cm long and 20 cm wide across the orbits, and it is almost as high as it is wide. The snout slopes anteroventrally from the posterodorsal corner of the infratemporal fenestra to what is seemingly the maxillary-premaxillary contact and the infratemporal fenestra is dorsoventrally deep. In contrast, the orbit is subcircular, not quite as dorsoventrally tall as anteroposteriorly long, smaller than the infratemporal fenestra, and only visible in lateral view. The anterolateral sector of the left supratemporal fenestra is relatively well preserved and it is visible only in dorsal view. The skull's antorbital fossa is roughly triangular, with its base longer than the other two sides. The jugal is triradiate and the anterior process of the jugal forms the posteroventral corner of the antorbital fossa and surpasses anteriorly the base of the lacrimal, a feature seen in basal thyreophorans and stegosaurs. The dorsal process of the jugal is proportionally long. The quadratojugal is very broad and the premaxilla is incompletely preserved while the post-cranial material is as-yet-undescribed at present. The dentition is heterodont, with six premaxillary teeth and thirty maxillary teeth. The genus' overall appearance is highly similar to that of stegosaurians, though lacking the characteristic plates and likely possessing a bipedal stance.
The holotype specimen of Isaberrysaura was discovered in the marine-delta levels of the Los Molles Formation (which is of Bajocian age) by Isabel Valdivia Berry, who is honoured in the generic name. The holotype, known as MOZ-Pv 6459 consists of a partial skeleton with a nearly complete skull (the post-cranial material of which is still unprepared), six cervical vertebrae, fifteen dorsal vertebrae, a sacrum with a partial ilium and an apparently complete pubis, nine caudal vertebrae, part of a scapula, ribs, with the addition of unidentifiable fragments.
...
Wikipedia