The phylogenetic relationships of sauropod dinosaurs
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چکیده
منابع مشابه
Neural Spine Bifurcation in Sauropod Dinosaurs of the Morrison Formation: Ontogenetic and Phylogenetic Implications
It has recently been argued that neural spine bifurcation increases through ontogeny in several Morrison Formation sauropods, that recognition of ontogenetic transformation in this ‘key character’ will have sweeping implications for sauropod phylogeny, and that Suuwassea and Haplocanthosaurus in particular are likely to be juveniles of known diplodocids. However, we find that serial variation i...
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Sauropod dinosaurs are the largest terrestrial vertebrate to have lived on Earth. This size must have posed special challenges for the musculoskeletal system. Scaling theory shows that body mass and hence the loads that must be overcome increases with body size more rapidly than either the ability of the muscles to generate force, or the ability of the skeleton to support these loads. Here we d...
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The herbivorous sauropod dinosaurs of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods were the largest terrestrial animals ever, surpassing the largest herbivorous mammals by an order of magnitude in body mass. Several evolutionary lineages among Sauropoda produced giants with body masses in excess of 50 metric tonnes by conservative estimates. With body mass increase driven by the selective advantages of ...
متن کاملAnatomical Terminology for the Sacrum of Sauropod Dinosaurs
The sacrum represents a key anatomical element for understanding Dinosauria, beginning with the first use of the taxon name in 1842. A five-vertebra sacrum was originally considered diagnostic of dinosaurs, and variation in the number of sacral vertebrae has been used to diagnose smaller groups of dinosaurs. Despite its centrality to early definitions of Dinosauria, utility for diagnosing small...
متن کاملVertebral pneumaticity, air sacs, and the physiology of sauropod dinosaurs
—The vertebrae of sauropod dinosaurs are characterized by complex architecture involving laminae, fossae, and internal chambers of various shapes and sizes. These structures are interpreted as osteological correlates of a system of air sacs and pneumatic diverticula similar to that of birds. In extant birds, diverticula of the cervical air sacs pneumatize the cervical and anterior thoracic vert...
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ژورنال
عنوان ژورنال: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society
سال: 1998
ISSN: 0024-4082
DOI: 10.1006/zjls.1997.0138