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Norell MA, Wiemann J, Menéndez I, Fabbri M, Yu C, Marsicano CA, Moore-Nall A, Varricchio DJ, Pol D, Zelenitsky DK. Reply to: Triassic sauropodomorph eggshell might not be soft. Nature 2022; 610:E11-E14. [PMID: 36261552 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05152-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mark A Norell
- Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA
| | - Jasmina Wiemann
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. .,Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
| | - Iris Menéndez
- Departamento de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain. .,Departamento de Cambio Medioambiental, Instituto de Geociencias (UCM, CSIC), Madrid, Spain.
| | - Matteo Fabbri
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. .,Negaunee Integrative Research Centre, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, USA.
| | - Congyu Yu
- Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA
| | - Claudia A Marsicano
- Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | | | | | - Diego Pol
- CONICET, Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, Trelew, Argentina
| | - Darla K Zelenitsky
- Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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Cisneros JC, Angielczyk K, Kammerer CF, Smith RM, Fröbisch J, Marsicano CA, Richter M. Captorhinid reptiles from the lower Permian Pedra de Fogo Formation, Piauí, Brazil: the earliest herbivorous tetrapods in Gondwana. PeerJ 2020; 8:e8719. [PMID: 32185112 PMCID: PMC7061909 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.8719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2019] [Accepted: 02/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The Pedra de Fogo Formation in the Parnaíba Basin of northeastern Brazil hosts a recently discovered lacustrine fauna and provides the only known record of the Captorhinidae in South America. Here, new captorhinid remains from this unit are described. Two partial mandibles, including one formerly ascribed to the genus Captorhinus, are here referred to Captorhinikos sp. a genus previously described from North America. The natural mould of a large mandible probably represents a new taxon within the captorhinid subclade Moradisaurinae, and a small skull roof is regarded as Captorhinidae indet. Captorhinids are generally considered to have been herbivores or omnivores. The Pedra de Fogo captorhinids likely played an important ecological role as primary consumers in the palaeoenvironment of this geological unit, which is also known for its extensive record of petrified forests. The new finds reinforce the close relationships between the continental faunas of palaeotropical western Gondwana and palaeoequatorial North America during the Cisuralian.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan C. Cisneros
- Museu de Arqueologia e Paleontologia, Universidade Federal do Piauí, Teresina, Piauí, Brazil
| | - Kenneth Angielczyk
- Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, USA
| | | | - Roger M.H. Smith
- Department of Karoo Palaeontology, Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
- Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
| | - Jörg Fröbisch
- Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung, Berlin, Germany
- Institut für Biologie, Humboldt Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Claudia A. Marsicano
- Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, FCEN, IDEAN-CONICET, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Martha Richter
- Earth Sciences Department, Natural History Museum, London, UK
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Ordonez MDLA, Cassini GH, Vizcaíno SF, Marsicano CA. A geometric morphometric approach to the analysis of skull shape in Triassic dicynodonts (Therapsida, Anomodontia) from South America. J Morphol 2019; 280:1808-1820. [PMID: 31621947 DOI: 10.1002/jmor.21066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2018] [Revised: 09/03/2019] [Accepted: 09/09/2019] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Dicynodont therapsids were a major component of the Permo-Triassic terrestrial ecosystems across Pangea and have been regarded as specialized herbivores. In South America, the group was represented by several taxa of the clade Kannemeyeriiformes spanning from the Middle to the Late Triassic. In order to evaluate if cranial differences among taxa are potentially related to differences in feeding function, we performed a geometric morphometric analysis on 28 South American dicynodont crania. We digitized 19 cranial landmarks and conducted generalized Procrustes analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), principal component analysis between groups (bg-PCA), and a branch weighted squared-change parsimony approach. Phylogenetic inertia was not a significant driver of cranial shape evolution in the group, whereas PCA and bg-PCA support that major morphological shape differences are concentrated in the preorbital region (relative length of the snout and width of the caniniform process), in the position of quadrate condyle in relation to the caniniform process, and in the increase in the intertemporal surface area. In this context, tusked Dinodontosaurus, "Kannemeyeria," and Vinceria have relatively smaller adductor attachment areas and input moment arm than younger taxa lacking tusks, such as Ischigualastia, Stahleckeria, and Jachaleria. Differences in cranial morphology in later dicynodonts reflect modifications in feeding mechanics, probably due to changes in food resources (vegetation) in their habitats toward the end of the Triassic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria de Los Angeles Ordonez
- Departamento de Ciencias Geologicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, IDEAN, Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Guillermo H Cassini
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.,División Mastozoología, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia", Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Nacional de Luján, Luján, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Sergio F Vizcaíno
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Division Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, Unidades de Investigación Anexo Museo, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina
| | - Claudia A Marsicano
- Departamento de Ciencias Geologicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, IDEAN, Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Marsicano CA, Latimer E, Rubidge B, Smith RM. The Rhinesuchidae and early history of the Stereospondyli (Amphibia: Temnospondyli) at the end of the Palaeozoic. Zool J Linn Soc 2017. [DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlw032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
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Marsicano CA, Wilson JA, Smith RMH. A temnospondyl trackway from the early Mesozoic of western Gondwana and its implications for basal tetrapod locomotion. PLoS One 2014; 9:e103255. [PMID: 25099971 PMCID: PMC4123899 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0103255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2014] [Accepted: 06/28/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Temnospondyls are one of the earliest radiations of limbed vertebrates. Skeletal remains of more than 190 genera have been identified from late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic rocks. Paleozoic temnospondyls comprise mainly small to medium sized forms of diverse habits ranging from fully aquatic to fully terrestrial. Accordingly, their ichnological record includes tracks described from many Laurasian localities. Mesozoic temnospondyls, in contrast, include mostly medium to large aquatic or semi-aquatic forms. Exceedingly few fossil tracks or trackways have been attributed to Mesozoic temnospondyls, and as a consequence very little is known of their locomotor capabilities on land. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We report a ca. 200 Ma trackway, Episcopopus ventrosus, from Lesotho, southern Africa that was made by a 3.5 m-long animal. This relatively long trackway records the trackmaker dragging its body along a wet substrate using only the tips of its digits, which in the manus left characteristic drag marks. Based on detailed mapping, casting, and laser scanning of the best-preserved part of the trackway, we identified synapomorphies (e.g., tetradactyl manus, pentadactyl pes) and symplesiomorphies (e.g., absence of claws) in the Episcopopus trackway that indicate a temnospondyl trackmaker. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE Our analysis shows that the Episcopopus trackmaker progressed with a sprawling posture, using a lateral-sequence walk. Its forelimbs were the major propulsive elements and there was little lateral bending of the trunk. We suggest this locomotor style, which differs dramatically from the hindlimb-driven locomotion of salamanders and other extant terrestrial tetrapods can be explained by the forwardly shifted center of mass resulting from the relatively large heads and heavily pectoral girdles of temnospondyls.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia A. Marsicano
- Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Jeffrey A. Wilson
- Museum of Paleontology and Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America
| | - Roger M. H. Smith
- Department of Karoo Paleontology, Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town, South Africa
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
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Wilson JA, Marsicano CA, Smith RMH. Dynamic locomotor capabilities revealed by early dinosaur trackmakers from southern Africa. PLoS One 2009; 4:e7331. [PMID: 19806213 PMCID: PMC2752196 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007331] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2009] [Accepted: 09/11/2009] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Background A new investigation of the sedimentology and ichnology of the Early Jurassic Moyeni tracksite in Lesotho, southern Africa has yielded new insights into the behavior and locomotor dynamics of early dinosaurs. Methodology/Principal Findings The tracksite is an ancient point bar preserving a heterogeneous substrate of varied consistency and inclination that includes a ripple-marked riverbed, a bar slope, and a stable algal-matted bar top surface. Several basal ornithischian dinosaurs and a single theropod dinosaur crossed its surface within days or perhaps weeks of one another, but responded to substrate heterogeneity differently. Whereas the theropod trackmaker accommodated sloping and slippery surfaces by gripping the substrate with its pedal claws, the basal ornithischian trackmakers adjusted to the terrain by changing between quadrupedal and bipedal stance, wide and narrow gauge limb support (abduction range = 31°), and plantigrade and digitigrade foot posture. Conclusions/Significance The locomotor adjustments coincide with changes in substrate consistency along the trackway and appear to reflect ‘real time’ responses to a complex terrain. It is proposed that these responses foreshadow important locomotor transformations characterizing the later evolution of the two main dinosaur lineages. Ornithischians, which shifted from bipedal to quadrupedal posture at least three times in their evolutionary history, are shown to have been capable of adopting both postures early in their evolutionary history. The substrate-gripping behavior demonstrated by the early theropod, in turn, is consistent with the hypothesized function of pedal claws in bird ancestors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey A Wilson
- Museum of Paleontology & Department of Geological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America.
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