Living fast in the Triassic: New data on life history in Lystrosaurus (Therapsida: Dicynodontia) from northeastern Pangea
Lystrosaurus was one of the few tetrapods to survive the Permo-Triassic mass extinction, the most profound biotic crisis in Earth’s history. The wide paleolatitudinal range and high abundance of Lystrosaurus during the Early Triassic provide a unique opportunity to investigate changes in growth dyna...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2021-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8570511/?tool=EBI |
| _version_ | 1818433337076744192 |
|---|---|
| author | Zoe T. Kulik Jacqueline K. Lungmus Kenneth D. Angielczyk Christian A. Sidor |
| author_facet | Zoe T. Kulik Jacqueline K. Lungmus Kenneth D. Angielczyk Christian A. Sidor |
| author_sort | Zoe T. Kulik |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Lystrosaurus was one of the few tetrapods to survive the Permo-Triassic mass extinction, the most profound biotic crisis in Earth’s history. The wide paleolatitudinal range and high abundance of Lystrosaurus during the Early Triassic provide a unique opportunity to investigate changes in growth dynamics and longevity following the mass extinction, yet most studies have focused only on species that lived in the southern hemisphere. Here, we present the long bone histology from twenty Lystrosaurus skeletal elements spanning a range of sizes that were collected in the Jiucaiyuan Formation of northwestern China. In addition, we compare the average body size of northern and southern Pangean Triassic-aged species and conduct cranial geometric morphometric analyses of southern and northern taxa to begin investigating whether specimens from China are likely to be taxonomically distinct from South African specimens. We demonstrate that Lystrosaurus from China have larger average body sizes than their southern Pangean relatives and that their cranial morphologies are distinctive. The osteohistological examination revealed sustained, rapid osteogenesis punctuated by growth marks in some, but not all, immature individuals from China. We find that the osteohistology of Chinese Lystrosaurus shares a similar growth pattern with South African species that show sustained growth until death. However, bone growth arrests more frequently in the Chinese sample. Nevertheless, none of the long bones sampled here indicate that maximum or asymptotic size was reached, suggesting that the maximum size of Lystrosaurus from the Jiucaiyuan Formation remains unknown. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T16:19:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ddab9fc025dd428185f5c80cc3970c0e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T16:19:29Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-ddab9fc025dd428185f5c80cc3970c0e2022-12-21T22:54:50ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-011611Living fast in the Triassic: New data on life history in Lystrosaurus (Therapsida: Dicynodontia) from northeastern PangeaZoe T. KulikJacqueline K. LungmusKenneth D. AngielczykChristian A. SidorLystrosaurus was one of the few tetrapods to survive the Permo-Triassic mass extinction, the most profound biotic crisis in Earth’s history. The wide paleolatitudinal range and high abundance of Lystrosaurus during the Early Triassic provide a unique opportunity to investigate changes in growth dynamics and longevity following the mass extinction, yet most studies have focused only on species that lived in the southern hemisphere. Here, we present the long bone histology from twenty Lystrosaurus skeletal elements spanning a range of sizes that were collected in the Jiucaiyuan Formation of northwestern China. In addition, we compare the average body size of northern and southern Pangean Triassic-aged species and conduct cranial geometric morphometric analyses of southern and northern taxa to begin investigating whether specimens from China are likely to be taxonomically distinct from South African specimens. We demonstrate that Lystrosaurus from China have larger average body sizes than their southern Pangean relatives and that their cranial morphologies are distinctive. The osteohistological examination revealed sustained, rapid osteogenesis punctuated by growth marks in some, but not all, immature individuals from China. We find that the osteohistology of Chinese Lystrosaurus shares a similar growth pattern with South African species that show sustained growth until death. However, bone growth arrests more frequently in the Chinese sample. Nevertheless, none of the long bones sampled here indicate that maximum or asymptotic size was reached, suggesting that the maximum size of Lystrosaurus from the Jiucaiyuan Formation remains unknown.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8570511/?tool=EBI |
| spellingShingle | Zoe T. Kulik Jacqueline K. Lungmus Kenneth D. Angielczyk Christian A. Sidor Living fast in the Triassic: New data on life history in Lystrosaurus (Therapsida: Dicynodontia) from northeastern Pangea PLoS ONE |
| title | Living fast in the Triassic: New data on life history in Lystrosaurus (Therapsida: Dicynodontia) from northeastern Pangea |
| title_full | Living fast in the Triassic: New data on life history in Lystrosaurus (Therapsida: Dicynodontia) from northeastern Pangea |
| title_fullStr | Living fast in the Triassic: New data on life history in Lystrosaurus (Therapsida: Dicynodontia) from northeastern Pangea |
| title_full_unstemmed | Living fast in the Triassic: New data on life history in Lystrosaurus (Therapsida: Dicynodontia) from northeastern Pangea |
| title_short | Living fast in the Triassic: New data on life history in Lystrosaurus (Therapsida: Dicynodontia) from northeastern Pangea |
| title_sort | living fast in the triassic new data on life history in lystrosaurus therapsida dicynodontia from northeastern pangea |
| url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8570511/?tool=EBI |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT zoetkulik livingfastinthetriassicnewdataonlifehistoryinlystrosaurustherapsidadicynodontiafromnortheasternpangea AT jacquelineklungmus livingfastinthetriassicnewdataonlifehistoryinlystrosaurustherapsidadicynodontiafromnortheasternpangea AT kennethdangielczyk livingfastinthetriassicnewdataonlifehistoryinlystrosaurustherapsidadicynodontiafromnortheasternpangea AT christianasidor livingfastinthetriassicnewdataonlifehistoryinlystrosaurustherapsidadicynodontiafromnortheasternpangea |