Dino card No. 0889 of 2,027

Issi

Say it: ISS-ee sah-NEEK

Name means: “cold bone in the Greenlandic language”1

Ate: PlantsLong-necksLate Triassic

Issi saaneq was an early long-necked dinosaur that lived in what is now Greenland. It walked on two legs and munched on plants. Its name means 'cold bone' in the Greenlandic language!1 2

Lived

227 to 206 million years ago5

Late Triassic

Fossils found in

Jameson Land, central East Greenland3

Food

Plants2

When did it live?

Triassic

Jurassic

Cretaceous

252 million years ago20114566, the asteroid

cool stuff

Fun facts

Issi saaneq is the northernmost sauropodomorph dinosaur ever found from the Late Triassic.3

Its fossils include two almost complete skulls, one from a middle-stage juvenile and one from a late-stage juvenile or subadult.1

Issi saaneq lived about 214 million years ago, during the Norian stage of the Triassic Period.1

It was a plateosaurid, a close relative of Plateosaurus from Europe.2

The fossils were collected from the Malmros Klint Formation, which was once a lake shore environment.1

Issi saaneq was named in 2021 by Beccari and colleagues, making it a relatively new dinosaur discovery.2

AI-made picture of Issi — An AI-made picture of how Issi might have looked, made by a computer from what scientists know. It is a guess: the real animal may have looked different, and nobody knows its true colours.

you asked

Most asked questions about Issi

?How big was Issi?

Scientists do not know the full size of Issi because only skulls have been found. The holotype skull is about 24.4 centimetres long, and the paratype skull is about a third shorter.4 1

?What did Issi eat?

Issi was a plant-eater. It munched on plants with its leaf-shaped teeth.4 3

?When did Issi live?

Issi lived about 214 million years ago, during the Norian stage of the Late Triassic Period.4 1

?Is Issi a dinosaur?

Yes, Issi is a dinosaur. It is a plateosaurid sauropodomorph, a long-necked plant-eater that walked on two legs.4 3

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For dino experts

Scientific name: Issi
Named by: Beccari et al. 20215
Group: Long-necks
Family / clade: Plateosauridae5
Classification: Sauropodomorpha5
Age of the rocks: 227 to 206 million years (Norian)5
Rock formations: Malmros Klint5
Countries: Greenland5
Fossil records: 1 in the Paleobiology Database5
Discovery: The first skull was found in 1991 in Greenland and was originally thought to be Plateosaurus. In 2021, scientists Beccari, Mateus, Wings, Milàn, and Clemmensen studied it and named it Issi saaneq, a new species.1 2
Still debated: Scientists are not sure exactly what the rest of Issi saaneq's body looked like, because only skulls have been described so far.3

Where the facts come from

Issi saaneq gen. et sp. nov., A New Sauropodomorph Dinosaur from the Late Triassic (Norian) of Jameson Land, Central East Greenland "2279 (mdpi-res.com)
PBDB Taxon (paleobiodb.org)
Issi saaneq gen. et sp. nov., A New Sauropodomorph Dinosaur from the Late Triassic (Norian) of Jameson Land, Central East Greenland (mdpi.com)
Issi (en.wikipedia.org)
Issi in The Paleobiology Database (CC BY 4.0): age, places, rock formations, classification.

Every fact on this page has a number that points to its source. If we got something wrong, sorry, we are dino fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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