Introduction:
You most likely have not even heard of this dinosaur and this definitely went under the radar but thanks to the new release of this genus figure by Mattel what sparked my interest to know what it is and I am quite surprised how much we know about this and this is a great little specimen that shows how different this group of dinosaurs and how the evolution works. Meet the Iani which is Rhabdodontomorph Iguanodontian. Let’s more learn about this little critter below.
Discovery:
The dinosaur, Iani smithi, was discovered in the Cedar Mountain Formation of Utah, USA around the year of 2014. While only one specimen of this dinosaur has been discovered, the remains are quite good for being a partial skeleton with a skull fortunately. The discovery was a great addition in understanding the family tree of Rhabdodontmorphs and it is like fitting in a missing piece of the puzzle. Iani showed the connection between Tenontosaurus and other Rhabdodontidae, linking a lot genera together.
Although it was discovered in 2014, with lots of fossil materials from one individual holotype like an almost complete skull, neck, back and hip bones, tail bones, ribs, pelvic and shoulder bones as well as right arm and leg. It is still very much incomplete but good enough to paint an illustration. It was later fully described as a separate genus in 2023 and a part of the Rhabdodontomorph family, which is part of the Ornithischian main group.
The name, ‘Iani‘, is based after Roman God of transitions, ‘Ianus‘, and the specific name, ‘smithi‘, honors Joshua Aaron Smith and fellow colleagues who contributed in the description. Now that I think about, Iani being named after the Roman God of transitions is a perfect for such a dinosaur as it looks it is in a transition period where it will soon evolve into much a larger dinosaur later on.
Biology:
Although it is does not look like much but the holotype Iani is estimated to be around 3.7 m (12.1 feet) in length and 1.1 m (3.6 feet) and probably weighed around 45 kg (100 pounds). It is quite a lightly built dinosaur made for the Middle Cretaceous and it was a herbivore so it probably ate small bushes and shrubs. This dinosaur would be so docile and unassuming that you would not even know if it was right behind you or in the background of a photo kind of dinosaur.
Iani is placed as a basal member of the Rhabdodontomorphs of the Iguanadontia meaning it is literally one of the dinosaurs that started the Rhabdodontomorph group and paleontologists interpret it as a transitional genus Tenontosaurus and Rhabdodon and Muttaburrasaurus. It lived around 100 – 94 million years ago which would be Late Cretaceous Period.
You may not realize but Cedar Mountain Formation during the Late Cretaceous had a lot of different kinds of dinosaurs with ankylosaurs like Cedarpelta, Gastonia, & Peloroplites, hadrosaurs like Eolambia, Tenontosaurus, Hippodraco, Iguanacolossus, & Planicoxa, sauropods like Cedarosaurus, Mierasaurus, Moabosaurus & Venenosaurus and a load of theropods in different sizes from small to large like Utahraptor, Yurgovuchia, Siats, Moros, Falcarius and Deinonychus. The ecosystem was quite diverse with these many dinosaurs and I would also have to make posts about these guys too soon. I am planning to make a Utahraptor soon.
Media:
There has not been any media appearances of this dinosaur but it may change soon with the recent dinosaur renaissance that is happening. Let’s hope the representation is pretty good.
FAQ:
Who discovered Iani Smithi?
Paleontologists Lindsay Zanno and Terry Gates excavate the bones of the new dinosaur Iani smithi from the Cedar Mountain Formation in Utah in 2014.
Merchandise:
Now we come to the very reason of this post, Mattel unveiled Iani in their latest Jurassic World: Rebirth toyline and it did make me think what this dinosaur could be. I looked at the figure itself and I thought it looked like a small ornithischian and it had a small coat feathers on top of it as well. Well, there is no concrete fossil evidences for small ornithischians to have a feather-y coat but it is not a far fetched idea because a lot of smaller theropods did have feathers and it stands to reason the coat could have helped in temperature regulation. I honestly feel like the figure is a good representation of the dinosaur, maybe a little on the thicker side but great nonetheless. If I do find the link for this dinosaur figure, I will share it at the bottom.
Thank you again for checking out this blog post and hope to see you again soon for the next dinosaur post. Do let me know down in the comments if there is any dinosaur that you would like me to cover.
References:
- Zanno, Lindsay E.; Gates, Terry A.; Ayrahami, Haviv M.; Tucker, Ryan T.; Makovicky, Peter J. (2023). “An early-diverging iguanodontian (Dinosauria: Rhabdodontomorpha) from the Late Cretaceous of North America”. PLOS ONE. 18 (6). e0286042. Bibcode:2023PLoSO..1886042Z. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0286042. PMC10246810. PMID37285376.
- Poole K. 2022. “Phylogeny of iguanodontian dinosaurs and the evolution of quadrupedality”. Palaeontologia Electronica. 25(3):1–65
- Dieudonné P.E., Cruzado-Caballero P., Godefroit P. & Tortosa T. 2021. “A new phylogeny of cerapodan dinosaurs”. Historical Biology. 33(10): 2335