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Animals
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Bone Morphology in Paleontology and Evolution Research
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Bone Morphology in Paleontology and Evolution Research

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 11958

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Marco Zedda

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy
Interests: archaeology; bone tissue; paleo histology; animal anatomy; paleoecology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Until a few decades ago, the morphological study of the bones of animals that lived in the past almost exclusively aimed to highlight useful characteristics for the recognition of species. Moreover, a close correlation between bone morphology and mechanical stress induced by the environment was identified and exploited to reconstruct the individual animal's lifestyle. Research on bone morphology is also fundamental to the study of allometry and skeletal development in the evolutionary field. Furthermore, over the last few decades, microscopic observations of thin bone sections have broadened horizons and allowed us to acquire more data on locomotor habits and the conducted lifestyle. One of the most interesting aspects of the macroscopic and microscopic morphological characteristics of ancient animal bones is that their study can be used to research and establish phylogenetic relationships between taxa. From this point of view, paleoanatomy and paleohistology acquire great importance in the comparative anatomy and paleontological field, as they provide useful tools for understanding evolutionary processes and achieving results that even paleogenetics cannot provide, leading to a sort of revenge of the morphological sciences on the biomolecular ones. You are invited to submit your work on these topics. In particular, we welcome histomorphometric studies on osteons, the relief of growth arrest lines, and the calculation of skeletal chronology as well as all other original studies of extinct animals that evaluate possible correlations between bone morphology and evolution.

Prof. Marco Zedda
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • bone morphology
  • bone histology
  • paleontology.

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 32821 KiB  
Article
First Attempt to Infer Sound Hearing and Its Paleoenvironmental Implications in the Extinct Insular Canid Cynotherium sardous Studiati, 1857 (Sardinia, Italy)
by Marco Zedda, Antonio Brunetti and Maria Rita Palombo
Animals 2022, 12(7), 833; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12070833 - 25 Mar 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2309
Abstract
This is the first study on the bony labyrinth of Cynotherium sardous, an intriguing extinct canid that inhabited Sardinia in the late Middle and Late Pleistocene. The morphological features of the cochlea indicate that C. sardous had a lower number of cochlear [...] Read more.
This is the first study on the bony labyrinth of Cynotherium sardous, an intriguing extinct canid that inhabited Sardinia in the late Middle and Late Pleistocene. The morphological features of the cochlea indicate that C. sardous had a lower number of cochlear turns (2.25) than all extant canids. This feature, as well as the reduced length of the spiral canal, the cochlear curvature rate, and the narrow basal membrane, indicates that C. sardous had poor hearing abilities limited to high-frequency sounds with a low limit of 250 Hz and poor echolocalization skills. From the data available, it is not possible to infer whether C. sardous was unable to echolocalize its prey and relied on other senses (e.g., smell and sight) to locate them or whether the acoustic range of C. sardous was specialized for identifying the sounds produced by its most common prey to transmit signals for predator warnings or group communication. All things considered, the results obtained confirm the utility of cochlea morphological studies in reconstructing the hearing abilities of this species and in providing some suggestions about its ethology, but they fall short of providing any new sound evidence regarding the ecological role of C. sardous in the Late Pleistocene Sardinian ecosystem. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bone Morphology in Paleontology and Evolution Research)
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28 pages, 12420 KiB  
Article
Skeletochronology and Paleohistology of Hyposaurus rogersii (Crocodyliformes, Dyrosauridae) from the Early Paleogene of New Jersey, USA
by Rodrigo A. Pellegrini, Wayne R. Callahan, Alexander K. Hastings, David C. Parris and John D. McCauley
Animals 2021, 11(11), 3067; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11113067 - 27 Oct 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4193
Abstract
The paleohistology of dyrosaurids is known from a small sample, despite being common fossils and representing a rare lineage of crocodylomorphs that survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction. Their lifestyle has been inferred only from sections of the snout, vertebrae, partial femur, and tibia. To [...] Read more.
The paleohistology of dyrosaurids is known from a small sample, despite being common fossils and representing a rare lineage of crocodylomorphs that survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction. Their lifestyle has been inferred only from sections of the snout, vertebrae, partial femur, and tibia. To improve this, we conducted a skeletochronological and paleohistological study of midshaft cross-sections of both femora and humeri of a nearly complete Hyposaurus rogersii skeleton. We found lamellar-zonal bone that underwent remodeling, evidenced by resorption cavities and abundant secondary osteons within the primary periosteal cortex. The osteons, mostly longitudinally oriented and arranged in circular rows, often anastomose radially along a linear path, resembling radial rows. The medullary cavity is completely open, lacking trabeculae: endosteal deposition is limited to thin lamellae surrounding the cavity. Analysis of cyclical growth marks and the presence of an external fundamental system indicate the specimen was a fully mature adult 17–18 years of age. Comparison of the skeleton to others suggests sexual dimorphism and that it was female. The open medullary cavity, and no evidence for pachyosteosclerosis, osteosclerosis, osteoporosis, or pachyostosis indicate H. rogersii was not a deep diver or a fast swimmer in the open ocean but a near-shore marine ambush predator. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bone Morphology in Paleontology and Evolution Research)
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17 pages, 12395 KiB  
Article
A Model for Dental Age Verification Using Ultrastructural Imaging for Modern and Fossil Representatives of the Rhinocerotidae Family
by Edyta Pasicka, Dariusz Nowakowski, Robin Bendrey and Oleg P. Melnyk
Animals 2021, 11(3), 910; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11030910 - 22 Mar 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3960
Abstract
The analyses were performed on a right third premolar (P3) of a white rhinoceros female (Ceratotherium simum, Burchell 1817). The specimen was born in captivity at London Zoo (Zoological Society of London), then in the 1970s transferred to Kiev [...] Read more.
The analyses were performed on a right third premolar (P3) of a white rhinoceros female (Ceratotherium simum, Burchell 1817). The specimen was born in captivity at London Zoo (Zoological Society of London), then in the 1970s transferred to Kiev Zoo (Peremohy Avenue), Ukraine, and was kept there until it died at a documented chronological age of 48 years. The female died because of its age, which indicates it was kept in good conditions adequate to the requirements of this species. Photographs and micrographs with radiological documentation were taken on the said tooth. Its structural characteristics were determined, and on the occlusal surface areas and points of anatomical constitution of its crown were identified. The tooth was also histologically evaluated via sections taken horizontally in a mesial-distal plane through the crown, horizontally in a mesial-distal plane through the coronal portion of the root, and longitudinally in a lingual-buccal plane through the crown and the root. Preparations with ground sections were made and observed in white, polarized, and reflected light. In the subsequent stage X-ray and SEM imaging has also been used, for analysis of the distribution of annual growth layers of mineralized dental tissues of cement and dentine, counted from the root canal center to the buccal surface. An attempt was also made to confirm the annual season in which the animal died, based on cement growth lines. It was observed that the growth lines were visible in all the analyzed sections, in dentine and cement. In the cement, the lines were relatively few and did not represent the attested age of the animal. The analysis of the coloration of the cement lines indicated that the animal was regularly fed a diet that was not seasonally differentiated. From the X-ray examination comes a conclusion that the animal did not suffer from periodontal diseases. Visible growth lines were observed on the dentine. On the horizontal section through the crown growth lines in the dentine were few and unclear. On the longitudinal section, both on the caudal and rostral roots, these lines were clearly visible and much more numerous than expected considering the known age of the animal, as more than 50 were counted. On horizontal sections through the upper part of both roots, distinct growth lines were observed in the dentine, and their number—48 for both roots—corresponded precisely to the age of the animal. The results of our study indicate that this method has significant potential for application to verify the age at death for modern and fossil representatives of rhinoceros. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bone Morphology in Paleontology and Evolution Research)
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