Iani
Genus of iguanodontian dinosaur
Iani (after Ianus) is an extinct genus of rhabdodontomorph iguanodontian dinosaur known from the Late Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah, United States. The genus contains a single species, Iani smithi, known from a partial skeleton including the skull. Its discovery serves as a morphological link between the genus Tenontosaurus and Late Cretaceous members of the clade Rhabdodontomorpha.
01Discovery and naming
The Iani smithi holotype specimen, NCSM 29373, was discovered in 2014 in sediments of the Cedar Mountain Formation (lower Mussentuchit Member) in Emery County, Utah, United States. The specimen consists of a partial skeleton including a nearly complete, disarticulated skull, cervical, dorsal, sacral, and caudal vertebrae, ribs and haemal arches, partial pectoral and pelvic girdles, and the right arm and leg.
In 2023, Lindsay Zanno and colleagues described Iani smithi as a new genus and species of rhabdodontomorph iguanodontian based on these fossil remains. The generic name, "Iani", alludes to Ianus, the Roman god of transitions, referencing the changing biota of the time. The specific name, "smithi", honors Joshua Aaron Smith and his paleontological contributions.
02Classification
Zanno et al. (2023) recovered Iani as a basal rhabdodontomorph member of the Iguanodontia. They interpreted it as a transitional taxon between Tenontosaurus and other Late Cretaceous rhabdodontomorphs (the Rhabdodontidae). The cladograms below display the results of their phylogenetic analyses using different datasets:
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Topology 1: Poole (2022) dataset |
Topology 2: Dieudonné et al. (2021) dataset |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Iani”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Iani TD.png by TotalDino, CC0
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