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New data on tail lengths and variation along the caudal series in the non-avialan dinosaurs
The tails of non-avialan dinosaurs varied considerably in terms of overall length, total number of vertebrae, and gross form and function. A new dataset confirms that there is little or no consistent relationship between tail length and snout-sacrum length. Consequently, attempts to estimate one fro...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
PeerJ Inc.
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7891087/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33628634 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10721 |
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author | Hone, David W.E. Persons, W. Scott Le Comber, Steven C. |
author_facet | Hone, David W.E. Persons, W. Scott Le Comber, Steven C. |
author_sort | Hone, David W.E. |
collection | PubMed |
description | The tails of non-avialan dinosaurs varied considerably in terms of overall length, total number of vertebrae, and gross form and function. A new dataset confirms that there is little or no consistent relationship between tail length and snout-sacrum length. Consequently, attempts to estimate one from the other are likely to be very error-prone. Patterns of changes in centra lengths across the caudal series vary among non-avian dinosaurs. However, some overarching patterns do emerge. A number of taxa show (anterior to posterior) a series of short centra, followed by a series of longer centra, with the remainder of the tail consisting of a long series of centra tapering in length. This pattern is consistent with functional constraints, and the anterior series of longer centra are coincident with the major attachments of femoral musculature. This pattern is not present in many basal taxa and may have evolved independently in different dinosaurian groups, further suggesting functional importance. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7891087 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-78910872021-02-23 New data on tail lengths and variation along the caudal series in the non-avialan dinosaurs Hone, David W.E. Persons, W. Scott Le Comber, Steven C. PeerJ Evolutionary Studies The tails of non-avialan dinosaurs varied considerably in terms of overall length, total number of vertebrae, and gross form and function. A new dataset confirms that there is little or no consistent relationship between tail length and snout-sacrum length. Consequently, attempts to estimate one from the other are likely to be very error-prone. Patterns of changes in centra lengths across the caudal series vary among non-avian dinosaurs. However, some overarching patterns do emerge. A number of taxa show (anterior to posterior) a series of short centra, followed by a series of longer centra, with the remainder of the tail consisting of a long series of centra tapering in length. This pattern is consistent with functional constraints, and the anterior series of longer centra are coincident with the major attachments of femoral musculature. This pattern is not present in many basal taxa and may have evolved independently in different dinosaurian groups, further suggesting functional importance. PeerJ Inc. 2021-02-15 /pmc/articles/PMC7891087/ /pubmed/33628634 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10721 Text en ©2021 Hone et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited. |
spellingShingle | Evolutionary Studies Hone, David W.E. Persons, W. Scott Le Comber, Steven C. New data on tail lengths and variation along the caudal series in the non-avialan dinosaurs |
title | New data on tail lengths and variation along the caudal series in the non-avialan dinosaurs |
title_full | New data on tail lengths and variation along the caudal series in the non-avialan dinosaurs |
title_fullStr | New data on tail lengths and variation along the caudal series in the non-avialan dinosaurs |
title_full_unstemmed | New data on tail lengths and variation along the caudal series in the non-avialan dinosaurs |
title_short | New data on tail lengths and variation along the caudal series in the non-avialan dinosaurs |
title_sort | new data on tail lengths and variation along the caudal series in the non-avialan dinosaurs |
topic | Evolutionary Studies |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7891087/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33628634 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10721 |
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