Furculae in the Late Triassic theropod dinosaur<Emphasis Type="Italic">Coelophysis bauri</Emphasis> |
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Authors: | Larry F Rinehart Spencer G Lucas Adrian P Hunt |
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Institution: | 1.New Mexico Museum of Natural History,Albuquerque,U.S.A. |
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Abstract: | Furculae have been identified in many dinosaurs and are synapomorphic in some clades (e.g., dromaeosaurids). All coelophysid
dinosaurs exceptCoelophysis bauri have been shown to possess furculae. To date, the oldest well-documented furculae have been those of the Early Jurassic coelophysids,Coelophysis kayentakatae andCoelophysis rhodesiensis. The confirmation of furculae in Apachean-agedC. bauri further documents appearance of these elements in the Late Triassic and shows that furculae are synapomorphic in the Coelophysidae.
A total of five furculae have been found in New Mexico Museum of Natural History’s (NMMNH) Ghost Ranch, New Mexico Whitaker
Quarry block C-8-82. We describe three furculae in articulated juvenile skeletons; two that are missing fragments but are
nearly complete, and one apparently complete, a small fragment of a furcula associated with an adultC. bauri, and one complete but isolated furcula. We access the morphology and allometry of the scapulocoracoid and furcula and show
that they grow, at least in juveniles, in isometry with the humerus. The furcula ofC. bauri has a widely opened U shape that subtends an angle of ∼ 120°. All the furculae have groove-like epicleidial facets at the
distal ends of the rami and some possess a small centrally located hypocleideal process. We reconstruct the complete Shoulder
girdle ofC. bauri with proper spacing and angles between the elements and find that the coracoids are very close together under the center
of the furcula. |
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