CAD assessment of the posture and range of motion of Kentrosaurus aethiopicus Hennig 1915

Mallison, Heinrich

doi:10.1007/s00015-010-0024-2

Cited by 67 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Except in rare cases (e.g., [24], [25]), cartilage is not preserved in fossils, and we are unaware of any preserved articular cartilage in sauropod vertebrae. When we speak of fossil vertebrae in this paper, we are referring only to fossilised bone.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…The shape of articular bony surfaces cannot therefore be assumed to indicate the functional shape of those surfaces in life. This is probably true of tetrapods in general but it is particularly important for large non-avian dinosaurs, in which extensive cartilage was present at many joints and did not always reflect the morphology of the underlying bones ([25], [27], [28] but see also [29]). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Effect of Intervertebral Cartilage on Neutral Posture and Range of Motion in the Necks of Sauropod Dinosaurs

Taylor

Wedel

2013

PLoS ONE

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The necks of sauropod dinosaurs were a key factor in their evolution. The habitual posture and range of motion of these necks has been controversial, and computer-aided studies have argued for an obligatory sub-horizontal pose. However, such studies are compromised by their failure to take into account the important role of intervertebral cartilage. This cartilage takes very different forms in different animals. Mammals and crocodilians have intervertebral discs, while birds have synovial joints in their necks. The form and thickness of cartilage varies significantly even among closely related taxa. We cannot yet tell whether the neck joints of sauropods more closely resembled those of birds or mammals. Inspection of CT scans showed cartilage:bone ratios of 4.5% for Sauroposeidon and about 20% and 15% for two juvenile Apatosaurus individuals. In extant animals, this ratio varied from 2.59% for the rhea to 24% for a juvenile giraffe. It is not yet possible to disentangle ontogenetic and taxonomic signals, but mammal cartilage is generally three times as thick as that of birds. Our most detailed work, on a turkey, yielded a cartilage:bone ratio of 4.56%. Articular cartilage also added 11% to the length of the turkey's zygapophyseal facets. Simple image manipulation suggests that incorporating 4.56% of neck cartilage into an intervertebral joint of a turkey raises neutral posture by 15°. If this were also true of sauropods, the true neutral pose of the neck would be much higher than has been depicted. An additional 11% of zygapophyseal facet length translates to 11% more range of motion at each joint. More precise quantitative results must await detailed modelling. In summary, including cartilage in our models of sauropod necks shows that they were longer, more elevated and more flexible than previously recognised.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Intervertebral Cartilage on Neutral Posture and Range of Motion in the Necks of Sauropod Dinosaurs

Taylor

Wedel

2013

PLoS ONE

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“…These theories include the use of dorsal plates for display (Carpenter 1998;Main et al 2005;Hayashi et al 2009), thermoregulation (Farlow et al 1976Buffrénil et al 1986;Farlow et al 2010) and defence (Marsh 1877;Gilmore 1914;Bakker 1986, Mallison 2010. The fact that the plates had a keratinous covering has implications on all these hypotheses, and must therefore be considered when evaluating these suggestions.…”

Section: The Function Of the Dorsal Plates In Stegosauriansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exceptional stegosaur integument impressions from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming

Christiansen

Tschopp

2010

Swiss J Geosci

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Dinosaur skin impressions are rare in the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation, but different sites on the Howe Ranch in Wyoming (USA), comprising specimens from diplodocid, camarasaurid, allosaurid and stegosaurian dinosaurs, have proven to be a treasure-trove for these softtissue remains. Here we describe stegosaurian skin impressions from North America for the first time, as well as the first case of preservation of an impression of the integument that covered the dorsal plates of stegosaurian dinosaurs in life. Both have been found closely associated with bones of a specimen of the stegosaurian Hesperosaurus mjosi CARPENTER, MILES and CLOWARD 2001. The scales of the skin impression of H. mjosi are very similar in shape and arrangement to those of Gigantspinosaurus sichuanensis OUYANG 1992, the only other stegosaurian dinosaur from which skin impressions have been described. Both taxa show a ground pattern of small polygonal scales, which in some places is interrupted by larger oval tubercles surrounded by the small scales, resulting in rosette-like structures. The respective phylogenetic positions of G. sichuanensis as a basal stegosaurian and H. mjosi as a derived form suggest that most stegosaurians had very similar skin structures, which also match the most common textures known in dinosaurs. The integumentary impression from the dorsal plate brings new data to the long-lasting debate concerning the function of dorsal plates in stegosaurian dinosaurs. Unlike usual dinosaur skin impressions, the integument covering the dorsal plates does not show any scale-like texture. It is smooth with long and parallel, shallow grooves, a structure that is interpreted as representing a keratinous covering of the plates. The presence of such a keratinous covering has affects on all the existing theories concerning the function of stegosaurian plates, including defense, thermoregulation, and display, but does not permit to rule out any of them.

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“…Maidment et al (2008) regarded S. armatus as a species showing a wide range of variation postcranially. However, this is not supported by the variation within the next bestrepresented stegosaurian species, Kentrosaurus aethiopicus HENNIG 1915 from the Tendaguru Formation (Late Jurassic) of Tanzania (Hennig 1915(Hennig , 1925Galton 1982;Mallison 2010). Maidment et al (2008) regarded most of the valid species from the Morrison Formation as junior synonyms of Stegosaurus armatus MARSH 1877, with 11 of the 12 characters based on referred specimens, not the holotype.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Species of plated dinosaur Stegosaurus (Morrison Formation, Late Jurassic) of western USA: new type species designation needed

Galton

2010

Swiss J Geosci

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CAD assessment of the posture and range of motion of Kentrosaurus aethiopicus Hennig 1915

Cited by 67 publications

References 51 publications

The Effect of Intervertebral Cartilage on Neutral Posture and Range of Motion in the Necks of Sauropod Dinosaurs

The Effect of Intervertebral Cartilage on Neutral Posture and Range of Motion in the Necks of Sauropod Dinosaurs

Exceptional stegosaur integument impressions from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Wyoming

Species of plated dinosaur Stegosaurus (Morrison Formation, Late Jurassic) of western USA: new type species designation needed

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