Institution: | 1. Institute of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice, Sosnowiec, Poland;2. Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland;3. Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Contribution: Investigation, Writing - original draft, Methodology, Validation, Visualization, Software, Data curation, Supervision;4. Section Paleontology, Institute of Geosciences, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Contribution: Investigation, Writing - original draft, Methodology, Validation, Visualization, Supervision;5. Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA;6. Faculty of Faculty of Exact and Technical Sciences, University of Silesia in Katowice, Sosnowiec, Poland
Contribution: Investigation, Writing - original draft, Methodology, Software, Data curation, Validation, Resources, Visualization;7. Section Paleontology, Institute of Geosciences, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany |
Abstract: | While the occurrence of skeletal pathologies in Middle Triassic marine reptiles has been poorly documented until now, massive accumulations of bone remains from the Germanic Basin provide the opportunities for documentation. Herein, we describe skeletal abnormalities in the Middle Triassic bone material from the Vossenveld Formation of Winterswijk, the Netherlands. The aim of the study is to distinguish in the studied bones pathologies resulting from malady or trauma and taphonomic alterations. Furthermore, an attempt was made to assess on how the pathologies also represent paleoecological data. Our survey led to the identification of one broken and healed bone, one case of abnormal coossification, and one case of posttraumatic fibro-osseous dysplasia. While the latter two pathologies give little insight into the ecology and function of the affected animals, the fractured dentary is attributed to Nothosaurus marchicus, a common sauropterygian macropredator. It proves that the individual survived long enough to heal, despite the injury hampering its hunting potential. One abnormally shaped humerus is interpreted as postmortem taphonomic deformation, emphasizing the necessity of utilization of detailed diagnostics to distinguish actual paleopathologies from nonbiological distortion. |