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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
Structural extremes in a cretaceous dinosaur
PLoS ONE, Volume 2, No. 11, Article e1230, Year 2007
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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. © 2007 Sereno et al.
Available Materials
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2077925/bin/pone.0001230.s001.tif
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2077925/bin/pone.0001230.s002.tif
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2077925/bin/pone.0001230.s003.tif
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2077925/bin/pone.0001230.s004.tif
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2077925/bin/pone.0001230.s005.tif
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2077925/bin/pone.0001230.s006.tif
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2077925/bin/pone.0001230.s007.pdf
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2077925/bin/pone.0001230.s008.pdf
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2077925/bin/pone.0001230.s009.pdf
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2077925/bin/pone.0001230.s010.pdf
https://efashare.b-cdn.net/share/pmc/articles/PMC2077925/bin/pone.0001230.s011.pdf
Authors & Co-Authors
Sereno, Paul C.
United States, Chicago
Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, the University of Chicago
Wilson, Jeffrey A.
United States, Ann Arbor
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Witmer, Lawrence M.
United States, Athens
Ohio University
Whitlock, John A.
United States, Ann Arbor
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Maga, Abdoulaye
Niger, Niamey
Universite Abdou Moumouni
Idé, Oumarou Amadou
Niger, Niamey
Universite Abdou Moumouni
Rowe, Timothy B.
United States, Austin
Jackson School of Geosciences
Statistics
Citations: 275
Authors: 7
Affiliations: 5
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1371/journal.pone.0001230
e-ISSN:
19326203
Research Areas
Environmental
Health System And Policy