Small body size and extreme cortical bone remodeling indicate phyletic dwarfism in Magyarosaurus dacus (Sauropoda: Titanosauria)
- Stein, Koen
- Csiki, Zoltan
- Rogers, Kristina Curry
- Weishampel, David B.
- Redelstorff, Ragna
- Carballido, José Luis
- Sander, P. Martin
DOIAbstract
Sauropods were the largest terrestrial tetrapods (>105 kg) in Earth's history and grew at rates that rival those of extant mammals. Magyarosaurus dacus, a titanosaurian sauropod from the Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) of Romania, is known exclusively from small individuals (<103 kg) and conflicts with the idea that all sauropods were massive. The diminutive M. dacus was a classical example of island dwarfism (phyletic nanism) in dinosaurs, but a recent study suggested that the small Romanian titanosaurs actually represent juveniles of a larger-bodied taxon. Here we present strong histological evidence that M. dacus was indeed a dwarf (phyletic nanoid). Bone histological analysis of an ontogenetic series of Magyarosaurus limb bones indicat...
Add to ORKG