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South American Sauropodomorphs: What Their Bone Histology Has Revealed to Us

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South American Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs

Part of the book series: Springer Earth System Sciences ((SPRINGEREARTH))

Abstract

Given that bone microstructure is a very important source of paleobiological information, several paleohistological studies have been conducted on sauropodomorph dinosaurs, possibly making this clade the most studied histologically. Despite these paleohistological studies on sauropodomorph dinosaurs from South America are relatively scarce in comparison with other regions of the world, significant progress on this matter (i.e. paleohistology of South American sauropodomorphs) has been made during the last decade. Following an order from rather specific to more generalized issues, the most important advances are related to the origin of particular skeletal elements (i.e. osteoderms, sacral supraspinous ossifications and extremely elongated cervical ribs), the growth patterns of basal sauropodomorphs and the variation on sauropod growth dynamics and its relationship with gigantism. Regarding the origin of osteoderms and extremely elongated cervical ribs, these structures have been formed by metaplastic ossification of dermal and tendinous tissues, respectively. Their histological characterization has been helpful to discover that the alleged osteoderms of Agustinia ligabuei were actually dorsal and cervical ribs. The long bone histology of basal sauropodomorphs has revealed that the cyclical growth pattern assumed for this group actually showed some degree of variation. Finally, a clade of basal sauropods (i.e. lessemsaurids) was characterized by a cyclical growth pattern, not previously reported for other sauropods, combined with episodes of highly accelerated growth rates. The gigantic body sizes obtained by lessemsaurids were therefore reached through a growth strategy different from that developed by eusauropods (i.e. rapid and continuous growth).

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Acknowledgements

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the editors for their invitation to participate in this book. Several of the contributions reviewed here have been possible because of the curators of many institutions of Argentina, who always understood the importance of paleohistological studies and have provided permission for sampling specimens under their care. I’m also grateful to my dear colleagues, who have entrusted me to carry on several projects focused on sauropodomorph histology. Pictures shown in Fig. 2 f–h courtesy of Flavio Bellardini. I want to dedicate this work to Leonardo Salgado, my former advisor, who introduced me to the wonderful field of paleohistology. Sci-hub library and Wikipaleo group shared valuable publications for this research. Part of my research was developed with the financial support of Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (PICT-2011-1181; 2015-1021). Jennifer Botha and Leonardo Salgado are kindly acknowledged for their comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Río Negro, Argentina

    Ignacio A. Cerda

  2. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología (IIPG), Universidad Nacional de Río Negro (UNRN), Río Negro, Argentina

    Ignacio A. Cerda

  3. Museo ‘Carlos Ameghino’, Belgrano 1700, Paraje Pichi Ruca (Predio Marabunta), Cipolletti (8300), Río Negro, Argentina

    Ignacio A. Cerda

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  1. Ignacio A. Cerda
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, CONICET - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, La Plata, Argentina

    Alejandro Otero

  2. Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, CONICET - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Trelew, Argentina

    José L. Carballido

  3. Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio, CONICET - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Trelew, Argentina

    Diego Pol

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Cerda, I.A. (2022). South American Sauropodomorphs: What Their Bone Histology Has Revealed to Us. In: Otero, A., Carballido, J.L., Pol, D. (eds) South American Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs. Springer Earth System Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95959-3_13

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