Structural extremes in a cretaceous dinosaur.

Fossils of the Early Cretaceous dinosaur, Nigersaurus taqueti, document for the first time the cranial anatomy of a rebbachisaurid sauropod. Its extreme adaptations for herbivory at ground-level challenge current hypotheses regarding feeding function and feeding strategy among diplodocoids, the larg...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Paul C Sereno, Jeffrey A Wilson, Lawrence M Witmer, John A Whitlock, Abdoulaye Maga, Oumarou Ide, Timothy A Rowe
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2007
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/25a20268531d4e4aa3385a99183569eb
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:25a20268531d4e4aa3385a99183569eb
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:25a20268531d4e4aa3385a99183569eb2021-11-25T06:13:49ZStructural extremes in a cretaceous dinosaur.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0001230https://doaj.org/article/25a20268531d4e4aa3385a99183569eb2007-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0001230https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Fossils of the Early Cretaceous dinosaur, Nigersaurus taqueti, document for the first time the cranial anatomy of a rebbachisaurid sauropod. Its extreme adaptations for herbivory at ground-level challenge current hypotheses regarding feeding function and feeding strategy among diplodocoids, the larger clade of sauropods that includes Nigersaurus. We used high resolution computed tomography, stereolithography, and standard molding and casting techniques to reassemble the extremely fragile skull. Computed tomography also allowed us to render the first endocast for a sauropod preserving portions of the olfactory bulbs, cerebrum and inner ear, the latter permitting us to establish habitual head posture. To elucidate evidence of tooth wear and tooth replacement rate, we used photographic-casting techniques and crown thin sections, respectively. To reconstruct its 9-meter postcranial skeleton, we combined and size-adjusted multiple partial skeletons. Finally, we used maximum parsimony algorithms on character data to obtain the best estimate of phylogenetic relationships among diplodocoid sauropods. Nigersaurus taqueti shows extreme adaptations for a dinosaurian herbivore including a skull of extremely light construction, tooth batteries located at the distal end of the jaws, tooth replacement as fast as one per month, an expanded muzzle that faces directly toward the ground, and hollow presacral vertebral centra with more air sac space than bone by volume. A cranial endocast provides the first reasonably complete view of a sauropod brain including its small olfactory bulbs and cerebrum. Skeletal and dental evidence suggests that Nigersaurus was a ground-level herbivore that gathered and sliced relatively soft vegetation, the culmination of a low-browsing feeding strategy first established among diplodocoids during the Jurassic.Paul C SerenoJeffrey A WilsonLawrence M WitmerJohn A WhitlockAbdoulaye MagaOumarou IdeTimothy A RowePublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 2, Iss 11, p e1230 (2007)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Paul C Sereno Jeffrey A Wilson Lawrence M Witmer John A Whitlock Abdoulaye Maga Oumarou Ide Timothy A Rowe Structural extremes in a cretaceous dinosaur.
description	Fossils of the Early Cretaceous dinosaur, Nigersaurus taqueti, document for the first time the cranial anatomy of a rebbachisaurid sauropod. Its extreme adaptations for herbivory at ground-level challenge current hypotheses regarding feeding function and feeding strategy among diplodocoids, the larger clade of sauropods that includes Nigersaurus. We used high resolution computed tomography, stereolithography, and standard molding and casting techniques to reassemble the extremely fragile skull. Computed tomography also allowed us to render the first endocast for a sauropod preserving portions of the olfactory bulbs, cerebrum and inner ear, the latter permitting us to establish habitual head posture. To elucidate evidence of tooth wear and tooth replacement rate, we used photographic-casting techniques and crown thin sections, respectively. To reconstruct its 9-meter postcranial skeleton, we combined and size-adjusted multiple partial skeletons. Finally, we used maximum parsimony algorithms on character data to obtain the best estimate of phylogenetic relationships among diplodocoid sauropods. Nigersaurus taqueti shows extreme adaptations for a dinosaurian herbivore including a skull of extremely light construction, tooth batteries located at the distal end of the jaws, tooth replacement as fast as one per month, an expanded muzzle that faces directly toward the ground, and hollow presacral vertebral centra with more air sac space than bone by volume. A cranial endocast provides the first reasonably complete view of a sauropod brain including its small olfactory bulbs and cerebrum. Skeletal and dental evidence suggests that Nigersaurus was a ground-level herbivore that gathered and sliced relatively soft vegetation, the culmination of a low-browsing feeding strategy first established among diplodocoids during the Jurassic.
format	article
author	Paul C Sereno Jeffrey A Wilson Lawrence M Witmer John A Whitlock Abdoulaye Maga Oumarou Ide Timothy A Rowe
author_facet	Paul C Sereno Jeffrey A Wilson Lawrence M Witmer John A Whitlock Abdoulaye Maga Oumarou Ide Timothy A Rowe
author_sort	Paul C Sereno
title	Structural extremes in a cretaceous dinosaur.
title_short	Structural extremes in a cretaceous dinosaur.
title_full	Structural extremes in a cretaceous dinosaur.
title_fullStr	Structural extremes in a cretaceous dinosaur.
title_full_unstemmed	Structural extremes in a cretaceous dinosaur.
title_sort	structural extremes in a cretaceous dinosaur.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2007
url	https://doaj.org/article/25a20268531d4e4aa3385a99183569eb
work_keys_str_mv	AT paulcsereno structuralextremesinacretaceousdinosaur AT jeffreyawilson structuralextremesinacretaceousdinosaur AT lawrencemwitmer structuralextremesinacretaceousdinosaur AT johnawhitlock structuralextremesinacretaceousdinosaur AT abdoulayemaga structuralextremesinacretaceousdinosaur AT oumarouide structuralextremesinacretaceousdinosaur AT timothyarowe structuralextremesinacretaceousdinosaur
_version_	1718413970999607296

Structural extremes in a cretaceous dinosaur.

Ejemplares similares