Long bone histology of sauropterygia from the lower Muschelkalk of the Germanic basin provides unexpected implications for phylogeny.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Sauropterygia is an abundant and successful group of Triassic marine reptiles. Phylogenetic relationships of Triassic Sauropterygia have always been unstable and recently questioned. Although specimens occur in high numbers, the main problems are rareness of diagnostic material from the Germanic Basin and uniformity of postcranial morphology of eosauropterygians. In the current paper, morphotypes of humeri along with their corresponding bone histologies for Lower to Middle Muschelkalk sauropterygians are described and interpreted for the first time in a phylogenetic context.

Methodology/principal findings

Nothosaurus shows a typical plesiomorphic lamellar-zonal bone type, but varying growth patterns and the occurrence of a new humerus morphotype point to a higher

SUBMITTER: Klein N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2908119 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature