#isaberrysaura

Cycads are known for being highly toxic plants, yet this dinosaur was found with a belly full of its seeds.

By José Carlos Cortés on @quetzalcuetzpalin-art​

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Name: Isaberrysaura mollensis 

Name Meaning: Isabel Berry’s Reptile 

First Described: 2017

Described By: Salgado et al. 

Classification: Dinosauria, Ornithischia, Genasauria, Thyreophora?, Eurypoda?, Stegosauria? 

Thanks to a scheduling error, today we’re going to talk about one of the more mysterious dinosaur discoveries of the past two years - Isaberrysaura! This dinosaur was found in the Los Molles Formation of Neuquén, Argentina, living somewhere between 175 and 169 million years ago, from the Toarcian age of the Early Jurassic to the Bajocian of the Middle Jurassic. This is actually a marine formation, meaning the body of this animal probably washed out to sea, though it probably did live near the coast as that part of the environment is a portion of the formation. It is a weird dinosaur because, originally, it was thought to be a Neornithischian - similar to Kulindadromeus. These animals are distinctive for having thickened enamel, and at least in the basalmost forms, having shortened and round skulls. Isaberrysaura, on the other hand, has a very long and narrow skull, much like a stegosaur. This would have made it a specialist feeder, eating solely on those specific plants it wished to, rather than browsing indiscriminately. It has similar skull features, besides shape, to basal stegosaurs, which increases the weirdness at hand. It also has different types of teeth. It was preserved with fossilized stomach contents including lots of seeds from cycads, and they were swallowed whole, with no chewing taking place. Isaberrysaura probably had a mixed diet, but only the mixed seeds are known. The fossil was not found with plates, but also wasn’t found with limbs or the tail, and later phylogenetic analyses have found it to be the basalmost known Stegosaur - so perhaps even a transitional form between early Thyreophorans and the Stegosaurs - though more remains and study of this animal are needed to truly piece together the mystery. 

Source: 

Han, F., C. A. Forster, X. Xu, J. M. Clark. 2017. Postcranial anatomy of Yinlong downsi (Dinosauria: Ceratopsia) from the Upper Jurassic Shishugou Formation of China and the phylogeny of basal ornithischians. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, in press.