Developmental plasticity in the life history of a prosauropod dinosaur.
Long-bone histology indicates that the most common early dinosaur, the prosauropod Plateosaurus engelhardti from the Upper Triassic of Central Europe, had variable life histories. Although Plateosaurus grew at the fast rates typical for dinosaurs, as indicated by fibrolamellar bone, qualitative (growth stop) and quantitative (growth-mark counts) features of its histology are poorly correlated with body size. Individual life histories of P. engelhardti were influenced by environmental factors, as in modern ectothermic reptiles, but not in mammals, birds, or other dinosaurs.
Sander
P Martin
PM
Institut für Paläontologie, Universität Bonn, Nussallee 8, D-53115 Bonn, Germany. martin.sander@uni-bonn.de
Klein
Nicole
N
D000818:Animals; D049628:Body Size; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation; D001846:Bone Development; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D025061:Dinosaurs / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000254:growth & development; D005580:Fossils; D005858:Germany; D008297:Male; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013557:Switzerland