Reconstrucción tridimensional de la pelvis asímetrica de un dinosaurio estiracosterno de Morella en las XXXIX Jornadas de la SEP

Durante la sesión “Paleo3D: las tecnologías digitales al servicio de la Paleontología”; realizada en la Sala de Prensa del Edificio de Rectorado de la UDC-Universidade da Coruña, con motivo de las XXXIX Jornadas de la Sociedad Española de Paleontología; varios miembros del Grupo de Biología Evolutiva presentaron la ponencia titulada “An asymmetrical pelvis unveiling a limping styracosternan dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Morella (Castellón)”. En esta contribución, se han expuesto los resultados en la reconstrucción tridimensional de una pelvis con anomalías anatómicas perteneciente a un ejemplar de dinosaurio ornitópodo estiracosterno hallado de la Cantera de Mas de la Parreta, localizada en el municipio Morella (Castellón); sugiriendo diversos escenarios de la configuración pelviana, miología y un diagnóstico preliminar de las anomalías. El resumen del trabajo es el siguiente:

Styracosternan ornithopods are among the most representative taxa of the Lower Cretaceous paleofauna in fossil sites of the Maestrazgo Basin. Among them, in the Mas de la Parreta quarry, near Morella (province of Castellón, Spain), the genera Iguanodon, Mantellisaurus and Morelladon were recognized as well as styracosternan bone elements that could not be assigned to any genus. Among the styracosternan material, osteological anomalies with a pathological origin have been identified in several specimens, none of which seems to directly affect the locomotion capabilities of the individuals. In this study, we describe the unusual configuration of the pelvic girdle of an individual (CMP-5) with various previously identified pathologies in the axial skeleton. The left ilium of the specimen exhibits markedly different morphology and proportions compared to its right counterpart. We exclude any taphonomic deformation for this character and we consider that the bone presents an anatomical anomaly, which causes an obvious asymmetry of the pelvic girdle affecting the areas of muscle origins of the iliac plate and the suprailiac crest, principally in Musculus iliofemoralis, M. iliotibialis and possibly M. iliofibularis. The morphology of the acetabulum would also be affected by this asymmetry, suggesting the development of hip dysplasia, a disorder that would increase the risk of joint dislocation, resulting in a limping individual that likely experienced strong back pain.

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Más información:

• Referencia: Salas-Herrera, J., Escaso, F., Gasulla, J. M., Ortega, F. An asymmetrical pelvis unveiling a limping styracosternan dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of Morella (Castellón). In Moncunill-Solé, B., Blanco, A., Grandal d’Anglade, A., González Fortes, G., Santos Fidalgo, L., Bao, R. (Eds.), Libro de Resúmenes de las XXXIX Jornadas SEP. Palaeontological Publications 5, 79.