Isanosaurus

Say it like this: “ee-sahn-o-SAWR-us”

Isanosaurus attavipachi

Isanosaurus ate plants and walked on four legs. It lived in the Late Triassic · Early Jurassic · Middle Jurassic · Late Jurassic. Bones have been found in Thailand.

Quiz me on Isanosaurus

When: Late Triassic · Early Jurassic · Middle Jurassic · Late Jurassic (Norian–Tithonian) · roughly 227.3 to 143.1 million years ago
Named in: 2000 · Buffetaut, E.; Suteethorn, V.; Cuny, G.; Tong, H.; Le Loeuff, J.; Khansubha, S.; Jongautchariyakul, S.
Hip height: 3.6 m · 12 ft
Length: 6.5 m · 21 ft
Weight: 7 tonnes
Found in: Thailand · Nam Phong
Food and walking: Herbivore · Four legs
Kind: long-neck giant · Sauropod
Family branch: Sauropoda

The story in short

In 2000, E. Buffetaut and colleagues published the name Isanosaurus. The name honors a person tied to the fossil or its study.

It lived in the Late Triassic · Early Jurassic · Middle Jurassic · Late Jurassic (Norian–Tithonian), roughly 227.3 to 143.1 million years ago. Finds come from Thailand, including the Nam Phong Formation. It was a herbivore and walked on four legs.

Published estimates put Isanosaurus at a length near 6.5 m, hips about 3.6 m high, and a body mass around 7 tonnes.

On the family tree it sits in Sauropoda, among the sauropod dinosaurs.

Close relatives

Aepisaurus

Aepisaurus elephantinus

Early Cretaceous (Albian) · roughly 113.2 to 100.5 million years ago

Amygdalodon

Amygdalodon patagonicus

Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian · Toarcian) · roughly 192.9 to 174.7 million years ago

Archaeodontosaurus

Archaeodontosaurus descouensi

Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) · roughly 168.2 to 165.3 million years ago