Issi
From Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) meaning 'cold', in reference to it being the most northerly basal sauropodomorph ever discovered. The species name 'saaneq' means 'bone' in Kalaallisut.
Issi is a plateosaurid dinosaur from the Late Triassic Fleming Fjord Formation of Greenland. It contains one species, Issi saaneq; the full binomial name means "cold bone". Fossils of Issi were previously assigned to the species Plateosaurus trossingensis, but new finds allowed for a reassessment of that material that showed that it possessed features thought to be exclusive to Brazilian sauropodomorphs such as Unaysaurus and Macrocollum. This ultimately led to the designation of Issi as a distinct genus in 2021. This taxon is the first non-avian dinosaur described from Greenland.
Diagnosis
- Small foramen at medial surface of premaxilla at base of lateral process
- Anteroposteriorly elongated dorsoposterior process of squamosal
- Quadrate relatively tall in comparison to rostrum height
- Well-developed posterodorsal process of articular, square-shaped in lateral view
Species
Issi saaneq Beccari et al., 2021
Type species
From Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) 'saaneq' meaning 'bone', together with the genus name forming 'cold bone', a reference to the northernmost location where a basal sauropodomorph has been found.
- Holotype
- NHMD 164741 , Statens Naturhistoriske Museum (SNM), Københavns Universitet
- Material
- Nearly complete and partially articulated skull of late-stage juvenile to sub-adult specimen.
- Horizon
- Malmros Klint Formation, Norian, Late Triassic , 227.3–205.7 million years ago
- Locality
- Iron Cake site, northern flank of Macknight Bjerg, Sermersooq, Greenland Beccari and colleagues (2021) place the material in a 1 m lake-shore sandstone 25 m below the boundary with the Ørsted Dal Formation.
References
- Beccari, V.; Mateus, O.; Wings, O.; Milàn, J.; Clemmensen, L. B. (2021). Issi saaneq gen. et sp. nov.-A New Sauropodomorph Dinosaur from the Late Triassic (Norian) of Jameson Land, Central East Greenland. Diversity 13(11). MDPI AG. doi:10.3390/d13110561 beccari2021a
-
Jones, B. (2026). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs: Sauropods. Princeton University Press.
Source of the body length, mass, and hip height estimates.
jones2026b