Growth curve of Aetosauroides scagliai (Pseudosuchia: Aetosauria) inferred from osteoderm histology

JEREMIAS TABORDA; IGNACIO A. CERDA; JULIA B. DESOJO

Anatomy, Phylogeny and Palaeobiology of Basal Archosaurs

Geological Society of London

Año: 2013; p. 413 - 423

Recent palaeohistological studies on paramedian osteoderms of aetosaurs revealed the presence of growth lines (lines of arrested growth or LAGs) and a minimal or nonexistent secondary remodelling in the bone matrix of these elements. This feature allows the age of individuals to be estimated through growth line count. In the present contribution we study the growth curve of the South American aetosaur Aetosauroides scagliai. We estimated the age (obtained from LAG counting) and body size (body length and body mass were used as proxies) of different aetosaur specimens in order to reconstruct the growth curve of the South American species. The data obtained for Aetosauroides scagliai were compared with that of other aetosaurs, such as Neoaetosauroides engaeus, Aetosaurus ferratus, Aetobarbakinoides brasiliensis, Typothorax coccinarum and Paratypothorax sp. Our results indicate that, if body length is considered as proxy, all studied aetosaur specimens have a similar or almost identical growth rate. However, important variations arose among aetosaur taxa if body mass is considered as proxy, which would be related to a body morphology ranging from slender (e.g. Aetobarbakinoides brasiliensis) to very wide (Typothorax coccinarum) morphotypes. In comparison with extant pseudosuchians (i.e. crocodylians), Aetosauroides scagliai possesses a relatively lower growth rate.