2022
DOI: 10.1111/joa.13646
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A path to gigantism: Three‐dimensional study of the sauropodomorph limb long bone shape variation in the context of the emergence of the sauropod bauplan

Abstract: Sauropodomorph dinosaurs include the largest terrestrial animals that ever lived on Earth. The early representatives of this clade were, however, relatively small and partially to totally bipedal, conversely to the gigantic and quadrupedal sauropods. Although the sauropod bauplan is well defined, notably by the acquisition of columnar limbs, the evolutionary sequence leading to its emergence remains debated. Here, we aim to tackle this evolutionary episode by investigating shape variation in the six limb long … Show more

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Cited by 11 publications
(18 citation statements)
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“…Deinotherium , Mammut , Mammuthus ; see Gheerbrant and Tassy ( 2009 )). At a larger taxonomic and evolutive scale, proboscideans were not the first to display fully graviportal bodies: sauropod dinosaurs were obligatory quadrupeds sharing a general graviportal form (Lefebvre et al, 2022 ; Rauhut et al, 2011 ; Sander et al, 2011 ). Their diversification towards a range of extreme gigantism was made possible by the acquisition of columnar limbs (straighter and positioned almost vertically), allowing to support a multi‐tons' body mass (Hildebrand, 1982 ).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…Deinotherium , Mammut , Mammuthus ; see Gheerbrant and Tassy ( 2009 )). At a larger taxonomic and evolutive scale, proboscideans were not the first to display fully graviportal bodies: sauropod dinosaurs were obligatory quadrupeds sharing a general graviportal form (Lefebvre et al, 2022 ; Rauhut et al, 2011 ; Sander et al, 2011 ). Their diversification towards a range of extreme gigantism was made possible by the acquisition of columnar limbs (straighter and positioned almost vertically), allowing to support a multi‐tons' body mass (Hildebrand, 1982 ).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Harbers et al, 2020 ). Similarly, they have been used to study the effect of high body mass in mammals (Mallet et al, 2019 ) and reptiles (Lefebvre et al, 2022 ; Pintore et al, 2022 ), but not on proboscideans bones.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…1) to test whether there is a relationship between wider hind limb posture (as the hind limbs are the main weight support of sauropod body, even after wide-gauge posture acquisition; see Bates et al, 2016) and potential morphological convergence between different titanosauriformes subclades regardless of their body size (as proxied by hind limb size). The analysis presented here can be seen as an expansion of Lefebvre et al (2022) study on sauropod limb evolution as we analyse a sample comprised mostly of Late Cretaceous Lithostrotian sauropods (their study included a broad diversity of sauropodomorph taxa including several titanosaurs).…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Several morphological features can be related to the evolutionary cascade that allowed the acquisition of their colossal sizes, like the vertebral pneumaticity related to avian-like air sacs, high metabolic rates, cranial morphology, feeding mechanisms (among several others, see Sander 2013). There are also several appendicular features related with the development of columnar limbs (Bates et al, 2016; Lefebvre et al, 2022; Salgado et al, 1997; Sander, 2013; Ullmann et al, 2017). The mechanical stability of the columnar limbs allowed them to support their multi-toned body masses.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%