[dinosaur] Pilmatueia (dicraeosaurid sauropod; Early Cretaceous, Argentina) vertebral pneumatic structures

Ben Creisler
[email protected]

A new paper:


Guillermo J. Windholz,  Rodolfo A. Coria  & Virginia L. Zurriaguz (2019)
Vertebral pneumatic structures in the Early Cretaceous sauropod dinosaur
Pilmatueia faundezi from northwestern Patagonia, Argentina.
Lethaia (advance online publication)
doi: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__doi.org_10.1111_let.12363&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=ScxmYJAJPpL7mKUy-s3OF3eEGPo30fosUR6APVVKRIs&s=T04Sfyc_YD9YmEU7Lj9Y-yMfgpdjeAI1-VflimGzOcg&e= 
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__onlinelibrary.wiley.com_doi_10.1111_let.12363&d=DwIFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=Ry_mO4IFaUmGof_Yl9MyZgecRCKHn5g4z1CYJgFW9SI&m=ScxmYJAJPpL7mKUy-s3OF3eEGPo30fosUR6APVVKRIs&s=4KoAenN7B87eZEmyZQY0fQZxMpUK88STyQ1dYMB0rvQ&e= 


One of the diagnostic characters of dicraeosaurid sauropods is a reduction
of pneumatization of dorsal and caudal vertebrae relative to their
Flagellicaudata sister taxon, Diplodocidae. Here, we analyse pneumatic
structures in the dicraeosaurid sauropod Pilmatueia faundezi, compare them
to those of diplodocoids and report the first record of camerate chambers
in a dicraeosaurid. The pneumatic structures are in a posterior cervical
centrum (MLL‐Pv‐002) and consist of lateral pneumatic fossae on the centrum
that communicate internally with large camerae. By contrast, Pilmatueia's
dorsal and caudal vertebrae (MLL‐Pv‐005‐016) lack pneumatic fossae on the
centra, which is consistent with the previously reported reduced
pneumaticity in dicraeosaurids. Nevertheless, the base of the neural arch
and possibly the base of the bifid neural spines of a posterior dorsal
vertebra (MLL‐Pv‐005) show pneumatic internal chambers. The pneumatic
features of the Pilmatueia cervical centrum and dorsal neural arch we
describe indicate that the degree of pneumatization is variable within
dicraeosaurids.