scholarly journals An elephant-sized Late Triassic synapsid with erect limbs

Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 363 (6422) ◽  
pp. 78-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomasz Sulej ◽  
Grzegorz Niedźwiedzki
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass ◽  
Rapid Growth ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Mammalian Evolution ◽  
Limb Bones ◽  
Stem Group ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
Latest Eocene

Here, we describe the dicynodontLisowicia bojani, from the Late Triassic of Poland, a gigantic synapsid with seemingly upright subcursorial limbs that reached an estimated length of more than 4.5 meters, height of 2.6 meters, and body mass of 9 tons.Lisowiciais the youngest undisputed dicynodont and the largest nondinosaurian terrestrial tetrapod from the Triassic. The lack of lines of arrested growth and the highly remodeled cortex of its limb bones suggest permanently rapid growth and recalls that of dinosaurs and mammals. The discovery ofLisowiciaoverturns the established picture of the Triassic megaherbivore radiation as a phenomenon restricted to dinosaurs and shows that stem-group mammals were capable of reaching body sizes that were not attained again in mammalian evolution until the latest Eocene.

scholarly journals Communications of cerebral circulation indicators with body structure and body size indicators in practically healthy young women of the middle intermediate somatotype

2018 ◽  
pp. 66-72
Author(s):  
G. V. Datsenko ◽  
A. V. Shayuk ◽  
I. M. Kyrychenko ◽  
T. M. Kyselyova ◽  
А. О. Ivanitsa
Keyword(s):  
Body Composition ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Blood Circulation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Average Strength ◽  
Limb Bones ◽  
The Third ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
Cerebral Blood Circulation

According to the data of modern scientific literature, to determine the risk groups of vascular diseases of the brain at the stage before the development of the disease, it is necessary to study the dependence of cerebral functional indicators of the population on their constitutional status, age, region of residence. The purpose of the study was to determine the features of correlations of cerebral blood circulation with anthropo-somatotypological characteristics of practically healthy young women of the middle intermediate somatotype. On the base of the research center of the National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, Vinnytsya conducted a comprehensive study of 30 practically healthy urban young women of the middle intermediate somatotype, in the third generation of residents of the Podillia region of Ukraine. All young women undergo rheoencephalography using a computer diagnostic complex; anthropometric research according to the scheme of V. V. Bunak; craniometry; determination of somatotype by J. Carter and B. Heath method and components of body mass index by J. Matiegka and American Institute of Nutrition (AIN) methods. The analysis of correlations of the obtained results was carried out using the Spearman method in the licensed statistical package “STATISTICA 6.1”. In practically healthy young women of the middle intermediate somatotype, the following multiple connections of indicators of cerebral circulation with anthropo-somatotypological parameters of the body are established: direct, mostly unreliable, average strength (r = 0.31 to 0.36) connections of most time indices with girth the thighs and time of rapid blood filling with one third of the indexes of the thickness of skin and fat folds (TSFF), the endomorphic component of the somatotype and fat component of the body mass using the Matiegka method; direct, mostly reliable, average strength (r = 0.36 to 0.51) connections of the index of tone of all arteries, tone of arteries of large diameter and tone of arteries of medium and small diameter with a third of the circumferential body sizes, most of the pelvic diameter and muscular component of the body mass by the AIN method, as well as the inverse, mostly reliable, mean strength (r = -0.37 to -0.41) connections of the artery tone ratio with the third of the indices of the TSFF and the endo- and mesomorphic components of the somatotype. Attention is drawn to the lack of reliable and average strength false correlations of amplitude indices with total body sizes, the parameters of the width of distal epiphyses of long limb bones and components of the somatotype; as well as time and derivative indicators - with total and longitudinal dimensions of the body. In the analysis of correlations of indices with rheoencephalogram with anthropo-somatotypological indicators in practically healthy young women of the middle intermediate somatotype among all groups of indicators of cerebral blood circulation for the derived indicators, the greatest number of reliable and average strength connections mainly found with body diameters (21.9%), components somatotype (16.7%), cephalometric indices (12.6%), girths of the body (11.6%), and components of the body composition (9.4%). For amplitudes indexes, the highest percentage of connections with cephalometric indices (14.3%), components of body composition (10.0%), body length (8.0%) and body diameters (7.5%) were established; and for time indicators - with TSFF (11.0%), with the circumferential dimensions of the body (10.7%), the width of distal epiphyses of long limb bones (10.0%).

scholarly journals Mechanics of evolutionary digit reduction in fossil horses (Equidae)

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1861) ◽  
pp. 20171174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brianna K. McHorse ◽  
Andrew A. Biewener ◽  
Stephanie E. Pierce
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass ◽  
Bone Geometry ◽  
Continuous Measure ◽  
Positive Allometry ◽  
Load Bearing ◽  
Beam Analysis ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
Major Trend ◽  
The Cost

Digit reduction is a major trend that characterizes horse evolution, but its causes and consequences have rarely been quantitatively tested. Using beam analysis on fossilized centre metapodials, we tested how locomotor bone stresses changed with digit reduction and increasing body size across the horse lineage. Internal bone geometry was captured from 13 fossil horse genera that covered the breadth of the equid phylogeny and the spectrum of digit reduction and body sizes, from Hyracotherium to Equus . To account for the load-bearing role of side digits, a novel, continuous measure of digit reduction was also established—toe reduction index (TRI). Our results show that without accounting for side digits, three-toed horses as late as Parahippus would have experienced physiologically untenable bone stresses. Conversely, when side digits are modelled as load-bearing, species at the base of the horse radiation through Equus probably maintained a similar safety factor to fracture stress. We conclude that the centre metapodial compensated for evolutionary digit reduction and body mass increases by becoming more resistant to bending through substantial positive allometry in internal geometry. These results lend support to two historical hypotheses: that increasing body mass selected for a single, robust metapodial rather than several smaller ones; and that, as horse limbs became elongated, the cost of inertia from the side toes outweighed their utility for stabilization or load-bearing.

scholarly journals Relative skull size as one of the factors limiting skull shape variation in passerines

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oksana Shatkovska ◽  
Maria Ghazali
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass ◽  
Shape Variation ◽  
Absolute Size ◽  
Terrestrial Locomotion ◽  
Skull Shape ◽  
Skull Size ◽  
Dietary Preferences ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
Biomechanical Constraints

Despite a considerable interest of researchers to the issue of variation in skull shapes of birds and factors influencing it, some drivers associated with the design features of an entire bird body, which are important for both successful terrestrial locomotion and flight, are overlooked. One of such factors, in our opinion, is relative skull size (skull length in relation to body mass), which can affect the position of the body's center of gravity. We tested effects of relative skull size, allometry (i.e. absolute skull size), and diet on variation in skull shape. The study was conducted on 50 songbird species with a wide range of body mass (8.3g to 570g) and dietary preferences (granivores, insectivores/granivores, insectivores, omnivores). Skull shape was analyzed using 2D geometric morphometrics. We revealed that similar patterns of skull shape occur among passerines with different body sizes and diets. The relative skull size predicted skull shape to a similar extent and with a similar pattern as the absolute size. In our opinion, the effect of the relative skull size on skull shape variation is likely due to biomechanical constraints related to flight.

scholarly journals Weight-Related Selves and Their Relationship With Body Mass Index Among Young Individuals in Curaçao

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 306-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieternel Dijkstra ◽  
Odette Van Brummen-Girigori ◽  
Dick P. H. Barelds
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass Index ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Body Dissatisfaction ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Secondary School Students ◽  
The Body ◽  
School Students ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Body Sizes

Based on the assumptions of self-discrepancy theory, the present study examined the degree of overweight, weight-related body images, and the relation between these images and body mass index (BMI) among two samples of young people from Curaçao (secondary school students, n = 176; undergraduate students, n = 205). In addition to BMI, participants reported their current, ideal, and most feared body sizes, the thinnest and largest body sizes still acceptable to them, and the body size they considered the healthiest by means of the Contour Drawing Rating Scale. We expected females to show a larger discrepancy between current and ideal body size than males (Hypothesis 1) and that this discrepancy (as an indicator of body dissatisfaction) would be related more strongly to BMI among females than among males (Hypothesis 2). Results yielded support for Hypothesis 1 among secondary school students only. Only in the undergraduate sample, BMI and body dissatisfaction were related, but equally so for males and females. Possible explanations are discussed as well as implications for weight management interventions.

scholarly journals Climatic influence on the growth pattern of Panthasaurus maleriensis from the Late Triassic of India deduced from paleohistology

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9868
Author(s):  
Elżbieta M. Teschner ◽  
Sanjukta Chakravorti ◽  
Dhurjati P. Sengupta ◽  
Dorota Konietzko-Meier
Keyword(s):  
Growth Pattern ◽  
Environmental Influence ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Bone Histology ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Tissue Type ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Local Climate ◽  
Limb Bones

Metoposaurids are representatives of the extinct amphibian clade Temnospondyli, found on almost every continent exclusively in the Late Triassic deposits. Osteohistologically, it is one of the best-known temnospondyl groups, analyzed with a wide spectrum of methods, such as morphology, morphometry, bone histology or computed modelling. The least known member of Metoposauridae is Panthasaurus maleriensis from the Pranhita-Godavari basin in Central India, being geographically the most southern record of this family. For the first time the bone histology of this taxon was studied with a focus on the intraspecific variability of the histological framework and the relationship between the observed growth pattern and climatic and/or environmental conditions. The studied material includes thin-sections of five long bones, a rib, an ilium and an intercentrum belonging most likely to eight individuals ranging from different ontogenetic stages. All bones have a large medullary region with progressively increasing remodeling, surrounded by a lamellar-zonal tissue type. The primary cortex consists of parallel-fibered matrix showing various degrees of organization, less organized collagen fibers in the zones and higher organized in the annuli. Growth marks occur in the form of alternating zones and annuli in every bone except the ilium and the intercentrum. The vascularity becomes less dense towards the outermost cortex in all sampled limb bones. Towards the outermost cortex the zone thickness is decreasing, in contrast to the avascular annuli, that become thicker or are of the same thickness. The growth pattern of P. maleriensis is uniform and represents changes in ontogenetic development. Multiple resting lines are prominent in the outer annuli of the limb bones and the rib and they presumably indicate climatic and environmental influence on the growth pattern. Therefore, a prolonged phase of slowed-down growth occurred during the unfavorable phase, but a complete cessation of growth indicated by Lines of Arrested Growth (LAGs) is not recorded in the studied samples. Based on the histological framework we conclude that the climate had an impact on the growth pattern. As we do not see any LAGs in the Indian metoposaurid, we assume that the local climate was relatively mild in India during the Late Triassic. A similar prolonged phase of slowed down growth without the occurrence of LAGs was observed in Metoposaurus krasiejowensis from the Late Triassic of Krasiejów (Poland). This is in contrast to Moroccan metoposaurid Dutuitosaurus ouazzoui from the Late Triassic of Argana Basin, where LAGs are regularly deposited throughout ontogeny indicating most likely harsher climatic conditions.

scholarly journals Anatomical and biomechanical traits of broiler chickens across ontogeny. 1. Anatomy of the musculoskeletal respiratory apparatus and changes in organ size.

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter G Tickle ◽  
Heather Paxton ◽  
Jeffery W Rankin ◽  
John R. Hutchinson ◽  
Jonathan R Codd
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass ◽  
Rapid Growth ◽  
Broiler Chickens ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Oblique Muscle ◽  
Meat Production ◽  
Relative Reduction ◽  
Slaughter Weight ◽  
Respiratory Apparatus ◽  
Selection For

Genetic selection for improved meat yields, digestive efficiency and growth rates have transformed the biology of broiler chickens. Modern birds undergo a 50-fold multiplication in body mass in just six weeks, from hatching to slaughter weight. However, this selection for rapid growth and improvements in broiler productivity is also widely thought to be associated with increased welfare problems as many birds suffer from leg, circulatory and respiratory diseases. To understand growth-related changes in musculoskeletal and organ morphology and respiratory skeletal development over the standard six-week rearing period, we present data from post-hatch cadaveric commercial broiler chickens aged 0, 2, 4 and 6 weeks. The heart, lungs and intestines decreased in size for hatch to slaughter weight when considered as a proportion of body mass. Proportional liver size increased in the two weeks after hatch but decreased between 2 and 6 weeks. Breast muscle mass on the other hand displayed strong positive allometry, increasing in mass faster than the increase in body mass. Contrastingly, less rapid isometric growth was found in the external oblique muscle, a major respiratory muscle that moves the sternum dorsally during expiration. Considered together with the relatively slow ossification of elements of the respiratory skeleton, it seems that rapid growth of the breast muscles might compromise the efficacy of the respiratory apparatus. Furthermore, the relative reduction in size of the major organs indicates that selective breeding in meat-producing birds has unintended consequences that may bias these birds toward compromised welfare and could limit further improvements in meat-production and feed efficiency.

scholarly journals BODY MASS AND SCALING OF LIMB BONES IN MAMMALS

Biomechanisms ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 12 (0) ◽  
pp. 51-60
Author(s):  
Tasuku KIMURA
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass ◽  
Limb Bones

scholarly journals Osteohistology of Late Triassic prozostrodontian cynodonts from Brazil

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Botha-Brink ◽  
Marina Bento Soares ◽  
Agustín G. Martinelli
Keyword(s):  
Bone Tissue ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Small Body ◽  
Growth Period ◽  
Early Ontogeny ◽  
Growth Patterns ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Adult Size ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
One Year

The Prozostrodontia includes a group of Late Triassic-Early Cretaceous eucynodonts plus the clade Mammaliaformes, in which Mammalia is nested. Analysing their growth patterns is thus important for understanding the evolution of mammalian life histories. Obtaining material for osteohistological analysis is difficult due to the rare and delicate nature of most of the prozostrodontian taxa, much of which comprises mostly of crania or sometimes even only teeth. Here we present a rare opportunity to observe the osteohistology of several postcranial elements of the basal prozostrodontid Prozostrodon brasiliensis, the tritheledontid Irajatherium hernandezi, and the brasilodontids Brasilodon quadrangularis and Brasilitherium riograndensis from the Late Triassic of Brazil (Santa Maria Supersequence). Prozostrodon and Irajatherium reveal similar growth patterns of rapid early growth with annual interruptions later in ontogeny. These interruptions are associated with wide zones of slow growing bone tissue. Brasilodon and Brasilitherium exhibit a mixture of woven-fibered bone tissue and slower growing parallel-fibered and lamellar bone. The slower growing bone tissues are present even during early ontogeny. The relatively slower growth in Brasilodon and Brasilitherium may be related to their small body size compared to Prozostrodon and Irajatherium. These brasilodontids also exhibit osteohistological similarities with the Late Triassic/Early Jurassic mammaliaform Morganucodon and the Late Cretaceous multituberculate mammals Kryptobaatar and Nemegtbaatar. This may be due to similar small body sizes, but may also reflect their close phylogenetic affinities as Brasilodon and Brasilitherium are the closest relatives to Mammaliaformes. However, when compared with similar-sized extant placental mammals, they may have grown more slowly to adult size as their osteohistology shows it took more than one year for growth to attenuate. Thus, although they exhibit rapid juvenile growth, the small derived, brasilodontid prozostrodontians still exhibit an extended growth period compared to similar-sized extant mammals.

A new, diminutive species ofCatopsalis(Mammalia, Multituberculata, Taeniolabidoidea) from the early Paleocene of southwestern Alberta, Canada

2018 ◽  
Vol 92 (5) ◽  
pp. 896-910
Author(s):  
Craig S. Scott ◽  
Anne Weil ◽  
Jessica M. Theodor
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
North American ◽  
Phylogenetic Position ◽  
Early Paleocene ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
History Of ◽  
American Clade ◽  
A New Species

AbstractMultituberculates were among the most taxonomically diverse mammals of the early Paleocene, having survived the catastrophic Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction and radiating soon thereafter. Although their evolution during the early Paleocene saw the advent of increasingly specialized dentitions, multituberculates generally remained small, rarely exceeding body sizes greater than those of extant rabbits. A conspicuous exception is the Taeniolabidoidea, a primarily North American clade whose members include the largest multituberculates yet discovered. Taeniolabidoidea includes several genera, with one of these,Catopsalis, being speciose and geographically wide ranging. Until recently, the chronological succession ofCatopsalisappeared to document a trend of increasing body size. We report here on a new species ofCatopsalisfrom the early Paleocene of Alberta that violates this trend and suggests that the evolutionary history ofCatopsalisis considerably more complex.Catopsalis kakwanew species is not only the smallest species ofCatopsalis, but is the smallest taeniolabidoid so far discovered, with an estimated body mass between 400 g and 660 g. In contrast to previous studies, we used recently proposed regressions based on lower cheek tooth row length to estimate body masses for North American taeniolabidoids. Our results propose more modest body mass estimates, particularly for the largest taeniolabidoids. The occurrence ofC.kakwan. sp. in the late early Paleocene implies either a significant ghost lineage, or reversal of several characters, including body size, during the latter part of the early Paleocene; the more likely of these scenarios must await a better understanding of the phylogenetic position ofC.kakwan. sp.UUID:http://zoobank.org/66d85345-49b8-4a46-ba6e-a4d4369cb3e0urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:AF7A5659-9068-4F2F-A6EC-5522A2BBA4CB

The Body Sizes and Proportions of the Sunghir People

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Trinkaus ◽  
Alexandra P. Buzhilova ◽  
Maria B. Mednikova ◽  
Maria V. Dobrovolskaya
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Weight Bearing ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Proportions ◽  
Mass Estimation ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
Methodological Considerations ◽  
Body Mass Estimation

Considerations of the body proportions and estimates of body mass and stature of the Sunghir people provide a general baseline for the assessment of a variety of aspects of their paleobiology. They also furnish some indications by themselves. Some of these aspects have been men­tioned with respect to sexual assessment of the adult remains (especially Sunghir 1 and 4; chapter 6), and methodological considerations have been addressed in part in chapter 5. What is presented here is a more detailed assessment of size in terms of body mass estimation and stature, and considerations of body proportions to the extent that they can be evaluated for Sunghir 1, 2 and 3. Body mass estimation was discussed in chapter 5, and it is done here exclusively using the dimension of the weight-bearing femoral articulations and/or metaphyses. It provides insights into trends in overall body size and health, but it is also central to the appropriate scaling of other aspects of morphology, from limb length and strength to brain size. Since the early comments of Boule (1911–1913) and Coon (1962), there has been a series of attempts to evaluate the body proportions (principally using limb segment lengths but also body breadth and trunk length) of Pleistocene humans as indications of both ecogeographical patterning among Late Pleistocene humans and possible reflections of their population dynamics (e.g., Trinkaus 1981, 2007; Walker and Leakey 1993; Ruff 1994; Holliday 1997a, 1997b, 2000, 2006a; Trinkaus and Zilhão 2002; Frelat 2007). The critical problem in assessing body proportions is to determine the independent variable. This must be done a priori, based on biological considerations. Stature estimation presents a variety of difficulties among Late Pleistocene humans, given variation in linear body proportions, but it can provide an indication of overall health, especially given the trends evident through the European Upper Paleolithic (Formicola and Giannecchini 1999; Holt and Formicola 2008). Assessments of body proportions depend in part on body mass estimation, and stature predictions depend on body proportions.

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