Abstract
This contribution presents the forelimb muscular arrangement of sauropodomorph dinosaurs as inferred by comparisons with living archosaurs (crocodiles and birds) following the Extant Phylogenetic Bracket approach. Forty-one muscles were reconstructed, including lower limb and manus musculature, which prior information available was scarce for sauropodomorphs. A strong emphasis was placed on osteological correlates (such as tubercles, ridges and striae) and comparisons with primitive archosauromorphs are included in order to track these correlates throughout the clade. This should help to elucidate how widespread among other archosaurian groups are these osteological correlates identified in Sauropodomorpha. The ultimate goal of this contribution was to provide an exhaustive guide to muscular identification in fossil archosaurs and to offer solid anatomical bases for future studies based on osteology, myology, functional morphology and systematics.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Alligators and Crocodiles / anatomy & histology
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Animals
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Biological Evolution
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Dinosaurs / anatomy & histology*
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Forelimb / anatomy & histology*
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Fossils / anatomy & histology*
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Lower Extremity / anatomy & histology
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Muscle, Skeletal / anatomy & histology*
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Osteology / trends
Grants and funding
Traveling in the context of the present study was possible thanks to the following financial support: Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (PICT 2011-2482 and PICT 2015-0504), Subsidio para Viajes y Estadías (La Plata University), Whittingtton Award and Research Grant (The Palaeontological Association), Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Grant (AMNH), Short Term Visitor Award (The Smithsonian Institution), Visiting Scholarships (FMNH), Ostrom Fund (Yale University), and Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD) to A.O., and Programa de Cooperación Científico-Tecnológica MINCyT (Argentina).