Trinisaura santamartensis, a new ornithopod from Antarctica

0 comentarios Publicado por Leonardo Filippi en 12:09


Coria, R. A., Moly, J. J., Reguero, M., Santillana, S. and Marenssi, S.

A new ornithopod dinosaur from Antarctica, Trinisaura santamartaensis n. gen. et n. sp. is diagnosed by a unique combination of characters that includes a scapula with a spike-like acromial process with a strong and sharp lateral crest and longer than other ornithopods, a humerus with a rudimentary deltopectoral crest represented as a thickening on the anterolateral margin of the humerus, and shaft strongly bowed laterally, and an ischium gently curved along its entire length. The holotype specimen comprises vertebral and appendicular elements. The presence of axially elongate distal caudal vertebrae, pubis with long prepubic and postpubic processes, as well as a femur with a distinct anterior trochanter, pendant 4th trochanter and shallow anterior intercondylar groove constitute a combination of characters present in the Late Cretaceous Patagonian Gasparinisaura, Anabisetia and Talenkahuen. The materials were found on the surface enclosed in a hard sandstone concretion collected near the Santa Marta Cove, James Ross Island, from the lower levels of the Snow Hill Island Formation (Campanian). This is the first ornithopod taxon identified from this unit, and the second ornithischian dinosaur, after the ankylosaur Antarctopelta oliveroi. However, other ornithopod reports from nearby localities of James Ross and Vega islands in outcrops of the overlying Lopez de Bertodano Formation suggest that this clade was widely represented in the Campanian and Maastrichtian of the James Ross Basin, Antarctic continent.
 
Coria, R. A., Moly, J. J., Reguero, M., Santillana, S. and Marenssi, S. (In press) A new ornithopod (Dinosauria; Ornithischia) from Antarctica. Cretaceous Research.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2012.12.004

 

Osteohistological insight in Mussaurus patagonicus

0 comentarios Publicado por Leonardo Filippi en 11:56


I. A. Cerda, Pol, D. and Cinsamy  A.
 
Here, we describe the bone histology of juvenile specimens of the basal sauropodomorph Mussaurus patagonicus and interpret its significance in terms of the early growth dynamics of this taxon. Thin sections from three juvenile specimens (femur length, 111–120 mm) of Mussaurus were analysed. The sampled bones consist of multiple postcranial elements collected from the Late Triassic Laguna Colorada Formation (El Tranquilo Group, Patagonia). The cortical bone is composed of fibrolamellar bone tissue. Vascularisation is commonly laminar or plexiform in the long bones. Growth marks are absent in all the examined samples. The ‘epiphyses’ of long bones are all formed by well-developed hypertrophied calcified cartilage. The predominance of woven-fibred bone matrix in cortical bones indicates a fast growth rate in the individuals examined. Moreover, given the existence of growth marks in adult specimens of Mussaurus, as in other sauropodomorphs, and assuming that the first lines of arrested growth was formed during the first year of life, the absence of growth marks in all the bones suggest that the specimens died before reaching their first year of life. Compared with the African taxon Massospondylus carinatus (another basal sauropodomorph for which the bone histology has been previously studied), it appears that Mussaurus had a higher early growth rate than Massospondylus.

Cerda, I. A., Pol, D. and Chinsamy A. 2013. Osteohistological insight into the early stages of growth in Mussaurus patagonicus (Dinosauria, Sauropodomorpha) Historical Biology: An International Journal of Paleobiology, DOI:10.1080/08912963.2012.763119


 

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