[dinosaur] Titanosaur early growth dynamics from bone histology

Ben Creisler
[email protected]


A new paper:


Romina González, Ignacio A. Cerda, Leonardo S. Filippi & Leonardo Salgado
(2019)
Early growth dynamics of titanosaur sauropods inferred from bone histology.
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (advance online
publication)
doi: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__doi.org_10.1016_j.palaeo.2019.109404&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=D8r5VOZ6ouN8ISoMIgfH9HCz138KDqtxpmBOFTPqdmM&s=YURjS5gd65imHxmj6PzuQIPecE00sCG9mThjxcgL2fU&e= 
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.sciencedirect.com_science_article_abs_pii_S0031018219303517&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=D8r5VOZ6ouN8ISoMIgfH9HCz138KDqtxpmBOFTPqdmM&s=9W502MsTV5JT9hSULRF3Z2O35r5946ahDgqnPcVrPXw&e= 


Highlights

Long bone histology of juvenile and embryonic titanosaurs is described.
The presence of a growth mark in a juvenile specimen indicates cyclical
growth.
A Kastchenko'sline is reported in the embryo.
The dimension of the embryonic cartilage template is reported.

Abstract

Histological studies have proven to be a powerful tool for addressing
sauropod paleobiology, with most focus on adult and subadult individuals.
The aim of this study is to describe long bone histology (femur) in early
juvenile titanosaur sauropods, to expand our knowledge about early stages
of development. The material consists of two small femora of undeterminate
titanosaurs from the Upper Cretaceous Bajo de la Carpa and Allen formations
of Argentina. Both femora from juvenile specimens show predominant
fibrolamellar bone tissue with plexiform vascularization pattern,
suggesting a fast growth rate. Despite the early stage of development of
the studied specimens, secondary remodelling is evident in one of them. In
the other sample, a growth mark is observed, which suggests unexpected
cyclical growth and a possible departure from the typical growth strategy
of sauropod dinosaurs. In addition, we examine undetermined long bones of
titanosaur embryos from the Anacleto Formation of Argentina. The embryos
shows poor development of cortical bone, high density of large simple
canals and presence of Kastschenko’s line suggest that these individuals
died during an early stage of ossification. This study reveals that the
early growth of at least some titanosaurs departs from the reported in
neosauropod dinosaurs.


<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.avg.com_email-2Dsignature-3Futm-5Fmedium-3Demail-26utm-5Fsource-3Dlink-26utm-5Fcampaign-3Dsig-2Demail-26utm-5Fcontent-3Dwebmail&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=D8r5VOZ6ouN8ISoMIgfH9HCz138KDqtxpmBOFTPqdmM&s=hjBE1txZtFcF49W6VgcxPumIchEHspuUvhrwQUuZf1M&e= >
Virus-free.
www.avg.com
<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.avg.com_email-2Dsignature-3Futm-5Fmedium-3Demail-26utm-5Fsource-3Dlink-26utm-5Fcampaign-3Dsig-2Demail-26utm-5Fcontent-3Dwebmail&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=D8r5VOZ6ouN8ISoMIgfH9HCz138KDqtxpmBOFTPqdmM&s=hjBE1txZtFcF49W6VgcxPumIchEHspuUvhrwQUuZf1M&e= >
<#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>