INVESTIGADORES
LECUONA Agustina
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
First 3D skeletal digital model of the pseudosuchian archosaur Gracilisuchus stipanicicorum Romer
Autor/es:
LECUONA, AGUSTINA; KEEBLE, EMILY; HUTCHINSON, JOHN R.
Reunión:
Congreso; 34º Jornadas Argentinas de Paleontología de Vertebrados; 2021
Institución organizadora:
Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales (IANIGLA), Museo de Historia Natural de San Rafael (MHNSR) y Museo de Ciencias Naturales y Antropológicas ?Juan Cornelio Moyano? (MCNAM)
Resumen:
Unlike living species, our knowledge ofextinct species is often based solely on their fossilised remains, mostly ontheir skeletons. Inferences based on these alone give us a narrow picture oftheir biology, with most of their potential behaviours, interactions, andinternal functions lost to time. New computational methods can help us fillthis gap, and we can now build digital 3D models of partialor complete skeletons, allowing numerous analyses, including thoseinvestigating morphofunction and biomechanics. Early archosaurs (Triassic stemcrocodile and stem bird lineages) are fascinating as they show a radiation ofdifferent anatomical morphologies. Among them, the small, early pseudosuchian Gracilisuchus stipanicicorum, from theUpper Triassic of northwestern Argentina, is particularly interesting as itslocomotor abilities have long been mysterious. Was it an obligate quadruped ordid it have some bipedal capacity? How fast could it move? With the aim of analysingits locomotor biomechanics, a series of µCT scans of the skeleton of thehypodigm of Gracilisuchus were made, inorder to build a digital 3D model and test hypotheses about its potentiallocomotor functions. Upon completion, we will be able to study the probableranges of motion around joints, the muscle moment arms, the inertial propertiesof body segments, and lastly infer the potential stances and gaits of Gracilisuchus. These inferences willallow comparisons with other taxa, and will help elucidate not only thepalaeobiology of Gracilisuchus, but alsounderstand part of the early evolution of musculoskeletal function inarchosaurs as a group.