Palaeopathological survey of a population of Mapusaurus (Theropoda: Carcharodontosauridae) from the Late Cretaceous Huincul Formation, Argentina.

• Main Authors: Phil R Bell, Rodolfo A Coria
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013-01-01
• Series: PLoS ONE
• Online Access: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23691045/?tool=EBI

Paleoepidemiology (the study of disease and trauma in prehistoric populations) provides insight into the distribution of disease and can have implications for interpreting behavior in extinct organisms. A monospecific bonebed of the giant carcharodontosaurid Mapusaurus (minimum number of individuals = 9) from the Cañadón del Gato site, Neuquén Province, Argentina (Cenomanian) provides a rare opportunity to investigate disease within a single population of this important apex predator. Visual inspection of 176 skeletal elements belonging to a minimum of nine individuals yielded a small number of abnormalities on a cervical vertebra, two ribs, pedal phalanx, and an ilium. These are attributed to traumatic (two cases), infectious (two cases) and anomalous (one case) conditions in a minimum of one individual. The emerging picture for large theropod (abelisaurids, allosaurids, carcharodontosaurids, tyrannosaurids) populations suggests that 1) osseous abnormalities were relatively rare (7-19% of individuals) but consistently present, and 2) trauma was a leading factor in the frequency of pathological occurrences, evidence of an active, often perilous lifestyle.