Osteohistological analysis of metatarsals reveals new information on pathology and life history of troodontids from the Campanian Dinosaur Park Formation, Alberta, Canada.

ABSTRACT: Troodontidae is a family of small-bodied theropods known predominantly from Asia but are comparatively scarce in North America. In the Dinosaur Park Formation (DPF) of Alberta, Canada, they are known predominantly from isolated material, precluding taxonomic and ontogenetic precision for this clade. Previously never sampled histologically within the DPF, here we attempt to fill in gaps in our knowledge about the life histories of the clade in this formation by histologically surveying metatarsals, which are among the most abundant and identifiable troodontid elements in the DPF. We sampled 11 metatarsals (three metatarsal IIs, three metatarsal IIIs and five metatarsal IVs) of varying sizes and included three pathological individuals to describe the microanatomy of both healthy and patholog

SUBMITTER: Garros CW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12397072 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep-Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature