scholarly journals Osteohistology and growth dynamics of the Brazilian noasaurid Vespersaurus paranaensis Langer et al., 2019 (Theropoda: Abelisauroidea)

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e9771
Author(s):  
Geovane Alves de Souza ◽  
Marina Bento Soares ◽  
Arthur Souza Brum ◽  
Maria Zucolotto ◽  
Juliana M. Sayão ◽  
...  

Although the knowledge of bone histology of non-avian theropods has advanced considerably in recent decades, data about the bone tissue patterns, growth dynamics and ontogeny of some taxa such as abelisauroids are still limited. Here we describe the bone microstructure and growth dynamics of the Brazilian noasaurine Vespersaurus paranaensis using five femora and six tibiae and quantify the annual growth marks through retrocalculation of missing ones to estimate ontogenetic ages. The femoral series comprises four femoral histological classes (FHC I-IV), varying from two annuli or LAGs to seven LAGs. Femora show that sexual maturity was achieved around the seventh to tenth year of life, whereas the tibiae suggest it was earlier (around three to five years old). Tibiae represent three histological classes (THC I-III) displaying from three to nine LAGs. Two tibiae (THC III) exhibit an external fundamental system indicating that these specimens reached full skeletal size. The heterogeneous maturity observed in Vespersaurus hind limb bones could result from differential allometry scaling between femora and tibiae length with the body length. The predominant parallel-fibered bone matrix suggests that Vespersaurus grew more slowly than most theropods, including other abelisauroids, in a pattern shared with the noasaurines Masiakasaurus knopfleri from Madagascar and CPPLIP 1490 from Brazil. This deviation from the typical theropod growth pattern may be mainly correlated with small body size, but also may related to resource limitation imposed by the arid climate prevailing in southwestern Gondwana during Cretaceous. Moreover, given the ecological and phylogenetic similarities among these taxa, such features would probably be apomorphic within Noasauridae.

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 219
Author(s):  
Anusuya Chinsamy ◽  
Trevor H. Worthy

The bone microstructure of extinct animals provides a host of information about their biology. Although the giant flightless dromornithid, Genyornis newtoni, is reasonably well known from the Pleistocene of Australia (until its extinction about 50–40 Ka), aside from various aspects of its skeletal anatomy and taxonomy, not much is known about its biology. The current study investigated the histology of fifteen long bones of Genyornis (tibiotarsi, tarsometatarsi and femora) to deduce information about its growth dynamics and life history. Thin sections of the bones were prepared using standard methods, and the histology of the bones was studied under normal and polarised light microscopy. Our histological analyses showed that Genyornis took more than a single year to reach sexual maturity, and that it continued to deposit bone within the OCL for several years thereafter until skeletal maturity was attained. Thus, sexual maturity and skeletal maturity were asynchronous, with the former preceding the latter. Our results further indicated that Genyornis responded to prevailing environmental conditions, which suggests that it retained a plesiomorphic, flexible growth strategy. Additionally, our analyses of the three long bones showed that the tibiotarsus preserved the best record of growth for Genyornis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Zaras ◽  
Angeliki-Nikoletta Stasinaki ◽  
Gerasimos Terzis

Track and field throwing performance is determined by a number of biomechanical and biological factors which are affected by long-term training. Although much of the research has focused on the role of biomechanical factors on track and field throwing performance, only a small body of scientific literature has focused on the connection of biological factors with competitive track and field throwing performance. The aim of this review was to accumulate and present the current literature connecting the performance in track and field throwing events with specific biological factors, including the anthropometric characteristics, the body composition, the neural activation, the fiber type composition and the muscle architecture characteristics. While there is little published information to develop statistical results, the results from the current review suggest that major biological determinants of track and field throwing performance are the size of lean body mass, the neural activation of the protagonist muscles during the throw and the percentage of type II muscle fiber cross-sectional area. Long-term training may enhance these biological factors and possibly lead to a higher track and field throwing performance. Consequently, coaches and athletes should aim at monitoring and enhancing these parameters in order to increase track and field throwing performance.


2006 ◽  
Vol 66 (1a) ◽  
pp. 85-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. I. Hamann

From December 1995 to November 2000, the seasonal maturation of Glypthelmins vitellinophilum Dobbin, 1958, in its definitive host, the frog Lysapsus limellus Cope, 1862, was studied in a subtropical permanent pond in northeastern Argentina. The objectives of this study were: 1) to determine the infrapopulation dynamics of the parasite, analyzing the seasonal maturation cycle throughout the years; and 2) to examine the relationship between the intensity of trematode infection in different developmental stages (recruitment, growth and maturation) and the host's body length. Of a total of 1,400 frogs examined over 60 months (5 years), 38% were found to be infected with G. vitellinophilum, and the intensity of infection was 1-15 trematodes per frog. Specimens of G. vitellinophilum were present in L. limellus throughout the years, but did not show a pronounced seasonal maturation cycle. Possible reasons for these findings are discussed with reference to climatic fluctuations and biotic factors. The infective period of the parasite (stage I) occurred in summer, autumn and spring, coinciding with the time each frog cohort appeared. These infections were found principally in small body sizes (classes 1 and 2) of L. limellus. Juvenile and nongravid specimens of worms (stage II and III) were found in frogs of different body sizes throughout the period of investigation. Gravid specimens of the parasite (stage IV) were generally recorded in autumn, winter and spring, mainly in the bodies of larger frogs. The body length of Trematodes in stages I and IV was significantly and positively correlated with that of the frogs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 88-95
Author(s):  
M. A. Leonova ◽  
I. S. Onishchenko ◽  
N. Yu. Balybina ◽  
I. N. Pen’kova

The results of studying the immune response with persistence of the microorganism of the genus Mycoplasma in the body of cows are presented. The study (2019) was conducted in dairy farms in five districts of Novosibirsk region. Identification of individual specific antibodies of class G to microorganisms of the genus Mycoplasma was carried out in 186 samples of blood serum of cattle. The study was carried out by enzyme immunoassay with the MycoplasmaIgG antibodies ELISA VET kit. In the majority of the studied farms, a prolonged persistence of the microorganism of the genus Mycoplasma was noted. It was found that mycoplasma, having weak immunogenicity, mainly causes a chronic course of the disease. In an enzyme-linked immunoassay, this phenomenon was recorded in dubious reactions in 60.8% of animals. In some farms during the study, a period of reactivation of the disease was noted, which appeared in the transition of the disease from the carrier phase to the active form with clinical manifestations. In the enzyme immunoassay, 7.5% of the animals reacted positively. It was noted that in farms with positively reacting animals, the probability of isolation and spread of the pathogen from sick animals is high. No reaction to the presence of class G antibodies to microorganisms of the genus Mycoplasma was detected in 31.7% of the animals studied. In most farms, the growth dynamics of animals with dubious response was noted to depend on their physiological period. The connection of the duration of cow lactation with the dubious antibody response in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was established. The possibility of connecting this phenomenon with highly intensive use of productive animals, which leads to an increase in stress levels and a decrease in homeostasis and immunity, is shown.


Author(s):  
Martin E. Atkinson

The surface anatomies of the face and neck and their supporting structures that can be palpated have been described in Chapter 20. It is now time to move to the structures that lie under the skin but which cannot be identified by touch starting with the neck and moving up on to the face and scalp. The cervical vertebral column comprises the seven cervical vertebrae and the intervening intervertebral discs. These have the same basic structure as the thoracic vertebrae described in Section 10.1.1. Examine the features of the cervical vertebra shown in Figure 23.1 and compare it with the thoracic vertebra shown in Figure 10.3. You will see that cervical vertebrae have a small body and a large vertebral foramen. They also have two distinguishing features, a bifid spinous process and a transverse foramen, piercing each transverse process; the vertebral vessels travel through these foramina. The first and second vertebrae are modified. The first vertebra, the atlas, has no body. Instead, it has two lateral masses connected by anterior and posterior arches. The lateral masses have concave superior facets which articulate with the occipital condyles where nodding movements of the head take place at the atlanto-occipital joints. The second cervical vertebra, the axis, has a strong odontoid process (or dens because of its supposed resemblance to a tooth) projecting upwards from its body. This process is, in fact, the body of the first vertebra which has fused with the body of the axis instead of being incorporated into the atlas. The front of the dens articulates with the back of the anterior arch of the atlas; rotary (shaking) movements of the head occur at this joint. The seventh cervical vertebra has a very long spinous process which is easily palpable. The primary curvature of the vertebral column is concave forwards and this persists in the thoracic and pelvic regions. In contrast, the cervical and lumbar parts of the vertebral column are convexly curved anteriorly. These anterior curvatures are secondary curvatures which appear in late fetal life. The cervical curvature becomes accentuated in early childhood as the child begins to support its own head and the lumbar curve develops as the child begins to sit up.


1975 ◽  
Vol 53 (9) ◽  
pp. 1254-1257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence E. Licht

Comparisons are made of life history features of the western spotted frog, Rana pretiosa pretiosa, living at 70 m in southwestern British Columbia, and 2600 m in Yellowstone Park, Wyoming.Lowland tadpoles remain longer as larvae and transform at twice the body size as highland tadpoles.Growth rates of juveniles and adults are rapid in the lowland population and the same amount of growth achieved by them in 2–3 years takes 8–10 years for highland frogs.Body size at sexual maturity is the same for frogs from both populations, but B.C. frogs breed at half the age of Wyoming frogs. Female fecundity, the number of eggs at spawning, is the same, but lowland females breed annually, while high-elevation females breed only every 2 or 3 years.Various explanations are put forth to account for observed differences.


1935 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Templeman

The claws of males and the width and depth of abdomen of females increase at a higher rate than body length with approaching sexual maturity. Consequently for lobsters over 20 cm. in length males possess claws relatively larger and females an abdomen relatively wider and deeper in an area such as that near Pointe du Chêne where sexual maturity occurs at about 20 cm. than in that near Grand Manan where lobsters only become sexually mature at about 34 cm.


Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4420 (2) ◽  
pp. 251 ◽  
Author(s):  
JIAN WANG ◽  
ZHAO-CHI ZENG ◽  
ZHI-TONG LYU ◽  
ZU-YAO LIU ◽  
YING-YONG WANG

A new species of tree frog, G. guangdongensis sp nov., is described based on a series of specimens collected from Dawuling Forest Station, Mount Nankun and Nanling Nature Reserve of Guangdong Province, southeastern China. The new species is distinguished from all known congeners by a significant genetic divergence at the mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene fragment examined (p-distance ≥ 4.6%) and the following combination of morphological characters: relatively small body size (SVL 26.1–34.7 mm in adult males, 34.9–35.4 mm in adult females); upper eyelid and dorsum lacking spines; supratympanic fold and tympanum distinct; dorsal and lateral surface rough, sparsely scattered with tubercles; ventral skin granular; tibiotarsal projection absent; toe-webbing moderately developed, finger webbing rudimentary; heels slightly overlapping when flexed hindlimbs are held at right angles to the body axis; brown to beige above, with an inverse Y-shaped dark brown marking extendeing from the interorbital region to the centre of the dorsum; males with a single subgular vocal sac and protruding nuptial pads with minute granules on the dorsal surface of the base of first finger. The discovery and description of Gracixalus guangdongensis sp. nov. represents the 14th species known in this genus. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 138
Author(s):  
Eneng Nunuz Rohmatullayaly ◽  
Alex Hartana ◽  
Yuzuru Hamada ◽  
Bambang Suryobroto

Several small-scale populations exhibited phenotypic plasticity whereby growth spurt of body height occurred much earlier than age at menarche and this was not followed by same early spurt of body weight. This leads to question whether growth trajectory of stature follow the same growth trajectory of body mass and whether the trajectory itself is associated to sexual maturity. We evaluated developmental plasticity observed in Baduy girl, a traditional population in Indonesia, in facing strenuous environmental and biocultural conditions. We measured stature and body mass cross-sectionally. We determined age at menarche as population average of age of girls that had already got their first menstruation. Growths of body fat and weight followed a same mode and timing and their spurts pivoted on the age at menarche. In contrast, growth spurt of body height occurred four years earlier than menarche and velocity curve of body linearity progressed in opposite direction to that of body ponderality. The prevailing poor nutrition and high physical activity elicited principle of ontogenetic allometry to synchronize the acceleration and deceleration of growths in body linearity and ponderality whereby growth in body height functions to reach the body size target and to provide skeletal framework for development of body mass. The biocultural conditions lead to slow bodily growth rate with low spurt resulting in the characteristics of Baduy girl that was small in size and late in both sexual maturity and full-grown ages.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2886
Author(s):  
Carlos Iglesias Pastrana ◽  
Francisco Javier Navas González ◽  
Elena Ciani ◽  
Ander Arando Arbulu ◽  
Juan Vicente Delgado Bermejo

Several idiosyncratic and genetically correlated traits are known to extensively influence leadership in both domestic and wild species. For minor livestock such as camels, however, this type of behavior remains loosely defined and approached only for sex-mixed herds. The interest in knowing those animal-dependent variables that make an individual more likely to emerge as a leader in a single-sex camel herd has its basis in the sex-separated breeding of Canarian dromedary camels for utilitarian purposes. By means of an ordinal logistic regression, it was found that younger, gelded animals may perform better when eliciting the joining of mates, assuming that they were castrated just before reaching sexual maturity and once they were initiated in the pertinent domestication protocol for their lifetime functionality. The higher the body weight, the significantly (p < 0.05) higher the score in the hierarchical rank when leading group movements, although this relationship appeared to be inverse for the other considered zoometric indexes. Camels with darker and substantially depigmented coats were also significantly (p < 0.05) found to be the main initiators. Routine intraherd management and leisure tourism will be thus improved in efficiency and security through the identification and selection of the best leader camels.


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