Osteohistological characterization and ontogeny of
            <i>Caiuajara dobruskii</i>
            (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea, Tapejaridae)

Araújo, Esaú Victor de; Bantim, Renan Alfredo Machado; Holgado, Borja; Sayão, Juliana Manso; Weinschütz, Luiz Carlos; Kellner, Alexander W. A.

doi:10.1080/08912963.2023.2207193

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 69 publications

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“…At present, several groups of archosauromorphs have been the subject of paleohistological studies, but most of them focused on the understanding of growth patterns in Avemetarsalia (e.g., pterosaurs, non-avian dinosaurs, and birds). Some of these studies had the privilege of having a sample with an ontogenetic series (e.g., Araújo et al, 2023;Chinsamy, 1993;Horner et al, 1999Horner et al, , 2000Horner et al, , 2001Souza et al, 2020;Wosik & Evans, 2022), an essential condition to access the complete life history of a taxon. In contrast, non-archosaurian archosauromorphs and archosauriforms, as well pseudosuchian archosaurs, despite having an upcoming interest in their paleobiological aspects accessed by bone microstructure analysis, are known for studies mostly based on incomplete samples (but see exceptions, e.g., Mukherjee, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bone histology supports gregarious behavior and an early ontogenetic stage to Decuriasuchus quartacolonia (Pseudosuchia: Loricata) from the Middle‐Late Triassic of Brazil

de Farias,

Desojo,

Cerda

et al. 2023

The Anatomical Record

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Decuriasuchus quartacolonia is a middle‐sized basal “rauisuchian” (Pseudosuchia, Loricata) from the Triassic beds of Brazil, whose original description was based on 10 specimens of equivalent size found in aggregation. In this contribution, we explore the osteohistology of its appendicular bones and a rib, aiming to infer growth patterns and ontogeny. In all analyzed bones (except in the rib) from three individuals, we found fibrolamellar bone (FLB) throughout the cortices, a pattern shared with other histologically sampled basal loricatans. We found evidence that suggests an early ontogenetic stage for all studied specimens: absence of secondary osteons, lack of transition from an inner highly vascularized FLB matrix to a poor vascularized parallel‐fibred bone, one line of arrested growth, open vascular canals in the external surface of the cortex and absence of an external fundamental system. In addition, we observed that the neurocentral sutures in the caudal to cervical vertebrae of the holotype are unfused, strongly suggesting that these individuals were not skeletally mature, as had been previously assumed. In addition, our data support the prior hypothesis that Decuriasuchus is the oldest‐known archosaur to show evidence of gregarious behavior and adds a probable cause of this as a strategy to obtain food and avoid predation until becoming independent as adults. Furthermore, our results open the possibility that Decuriasuchus may represent an earlier growth stage of the larger Prestosuchus chiniquensis, with two specimens recovered from the same stratigraphic level and paleontological site. Since the adult form of Decuriasuchus remains unknown, a deeper anatomical study is needed to discuss the validity of the species. This study case exemplifies the importance of paleohistology as an essential complementary tool to describe a new morphospecies in vertebrate paleontology.

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