The first evidence of osteomyelitis in a sauropod dinosaur

GARCÍA, RODOLFO; CERDA IGNACIO; HELLER MATÍAS; ROTHSCHILD BRUCE; ZURRIAGUZ VIRGINIA

LETHAIA

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2016

0024-1164

Osteomyelitis is reported for the first time in a sauropod dinosaur. The material(MCS-PV 183) comes from the Anacleto Formation (Campanian, Late Cretaceous), atthe Cinco Saltos locality, Rıo Negro Province, Argentina. The specimen consists of 16mid and mid-distal caudal vertebrae of a titanosaur sauropod. Evidence of bacterialinfection is preserved in all of these vertebrae. The main anomalies are as follows:irregular ?microbubbly? texture of bone surfaces produced by periosteal reactive bone,abscesses on the rims of the anterior articular surfaces of two centra, numerous pits oncentra anterior articulation surfaces, erosions on the anterior articulation of the vertebralcentra, a vertical groove in posterior articular face of all the centra and disruptionof the prezygapophysis and postzygapophysis (mainly the articular face) from the vertebra19 and beyond. The last anomaly is increasingly pronounced in more distal elementsof the series. Thin sections reveal that the anomalous cortical tissue iscomposed of avascular and highly fibrous bone matrix. The fibres of the bone matrixare organized into thick bundles oriented in different directions. Both morphologicaland histological abnormalities in the MCS-PV 183 specimen are pathognomonic forosteomyelitis.