Phil R. Bell and Rodolfo A. Coria
Paleoepidemiology
(the study of disease and trauma in prehistoric populations) provides insight
into the distribution of disease and can have implications for interpreting
behavior in extinct organisms. A monospecific bonebed of the giant carcharodontosaurid
Mapusaurus (minimum number of individuals = 9) from the Cañaadón del Gato
site, Neuquén Province, Argentina (Cenomanian) provides a rare opportunity to
investigate disease within a single population of this important apex predator.
Visual inspection of 176 skeletal elements belonging to a minimum of nine
individuals yielded a small number of abnormalities on a cervical vertebra, two
ribs, pedal phalanx, and an ilium. These are attributed to traumatic (two cases),
infectious (two cases) and anomalous (one case) conditions in a minimum of one
individual. The emerging picture for large theropod (abelisaurids, allosaurids,
carcharodontosaurids, tyrannosaurids) populations suggests that 1) osseous abnormalities
were relatively rare (7–19% of individuals) but consistently present, and 2)
trauma was a leading factor in the frequency of pathological occurrences,
evidence of an active, often perilous lifestyle.
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