Well, this is a very pleasant surprise on the last day of the semester: Tito Aureliano, Aline M. Ghilardi, Bruno A. Navarro, Marcelo A. Fernandes, Fresia Ricardi-Branco, &amp; Mathew J. Wedel. 2021. Exquisite air sac histological traces in a hyperpneumatized nanoid sauropod dinosaur from South America. Scientific Reports 11: 24207.

Western University of Health Sciences

Matt Wedel

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image-title="Aureliano et al 2021 fig 1 – 3D recon of dorsal vertebra"
image-description="" image-caption=""
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sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}](https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2021/12/aureliano-et-al-2021-fig-1-3d-recon-of-dorsal-vertebra.png)

Posterior dorsal vertebra of the Upper Cretaceous nanoid saltasaurid
LPP-PV-0200. Three-dimensional reconstruction from CT scan in left
lateral view (**A**). Circle and rectangle show sampling planes and the
respective thin sections are in (**B**,**C**). *ce* centrum, *ns* neural
spine, *pn* pneumatopore, *poz* postzygaphophysis, *prz*
prezygapophysis. Scale bar in (**A**) 10 cm; in (**B**,**C**) 1 cm.
Computed tomography data processed with 3D Slicer version 4.10.
:::

Well, this is a very pleasant surprise on the last day of the semester:

> [Tito Aureliano, Aline M. Ghilardi, Bruno A. Navarro, Marcelo A.
> Fernandes, Fresia Ricardi-Branco, & Mathew J. Wedel. 2021. Exquisite
> air sac histological traces in a hyperpneumatized nanoid sauropod
> dinosaur from South America. Scientific Reports 11:
> 24207.](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-03689-8)

You may justly be wondering what I'm doing on a paper on a South
American titanosaur. It came about like this:

- I wrote to Tito Aureliano back in March to congratulate him on his
  2019 paper, "Influence of taphonomy on histological evidence for
  vertebral pneumaticity in an Upper Cretaceous titanosaur from South
  America", which I'd just reread, and was impressed by;
- he told me he was working on a manuscript on saltasaur pneumaticity
  and would be grateful for my thoughts;
- I sent him said thoughts, with no strings attached;
- he asked me if I'd be willing to come on the project as a junior
  author;
- I said yes;

and a few months later, here we are.

::: {#attachment_19413 .wp-caption .aligncenter shortcode="caption" style="width: 772px"}
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image-title="Aureliano et al 2021 fig 2 – CT slices"
image-description="" image-caption=""
medium-file="https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2021/12/aureliano-et-al-2021-fig-2-ct-slices.png?w=223"
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sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px"}](https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2021/12/aureliano-et-al-2021-fig-2-ct-slices.png)

Dorsal vertebra internal structures of LPP-PV-0200. Reconstructed
tomography model in distal (**A**) and right lateral (**B**) views
illustrating subvertical tangential CT scan slices in false color
(1--9). Images show that only a few structures had survived diagenesis
which restricted the assessment of the internal architecture to limited
spaces. Lighter blue and green indicate lower densities (e.g., pneumatic
cavities). Purple and darker blue demonstrate denser structures (e.g.,
camellate bone). Dashed lines indicate internal plates of bone that
sustain radial camellae. *ce* centrum, *cc* circumferential chambers,
*cml* camellae, *hc-cml* 'honeycomb' camellae, *ns* neural spine, *pf*
pneumatic foramen, *pn* pneumatopore, *pacdf*
parapophyseal-centrodiapophyseal fossa, *pocdf*
postzygapophyseal-centrodiapophyseal fossa, *rad* radial camellae.
Computed tomography data processed with 3D Slicer version 4.10.
:::

My correspondence to Tito basically boiled down to, "All the things
you've identified in your CT scans are there, but there are also a few
more exciting things that you might want to draw attention to" ---
specifically circumferential and radial camellae near the ends and edges
of the centrum, and pneumatic chambers communicating with the neural
canal, which were previously only published in *Giraffatitan* (Schwarz
and Fritsch 2006; see Atterholt and Wedel 2018 and [this
post](https://svpow.com/2018/09/14/the-atterholt-and-wedel-2018-svpca-abstract-and-talk-are-now-available-on-peerj-preprints/)
for more). The internal plates of bone inside the cotyle, which help
frame the radial camellae, were first noted by Woodward and Lehman
(2009), and discussed in [this
post](https://svpow.com/2010/01/18/more-on-the-internal-structure-of-alamosaurus-vertebrae/).

I can't think of any reason not to just post the notes I sent to Tito
back in March, so here you go:

[Wedel suggestions for Aureliano et al Saltasauridae
dorsal](https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2021/12/wedel-suggestions-for-aureliano-et-al-saltasauridae-dorsal.pdf)

I may have more to say about this in the coming days, but at the moment
I have two extant dinosaurs --- ducks, to be precise --- smoking on the
grill, and I need to get back to them. The new paper is open access,
free to the world
([link](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-03689-8)), so go have
fun with it.

**UPDATE** the next day: here's another post on the new paper:

- [Here's a video on the new saltasaur pneumaticity paper by Aureliano
  et al.
  (2021)](https://svpow.com/2021/12/18/heres-a-video-on-the-new-saltasaur-pneumaticity-paper-by-aureliano-et-al-2021/)

## References

- [Atterholt, J., and Wedel, M. 2018. [A CT-based survey of
  supramedullary diverticula in extant
  birds]{.self-citation-title}. 66th Symposium on Vertebrate
  Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy, Programme and Abstracts, p. 30
  / [PeerJ
  Preprints]{.self-citation-journal} [6]{.self-citation-volume}:[e27201v1]{.self-citation-elocation}](https://peerj.com/preprints/27201/)
- [Aureliano, T., Ghilardi, A.M., Silva-Junior, J.C., Martinelli, A.G.,
  Ribeiro, L.C.B., Marinho, T., Fernandes, M.A., Ricardi-Branco, F. and
  Sander, P.M. 2020. Influence of taphonomy on histological evidence for
  vertebral pneumaticity in an Upper Cretaceous titanosaur from South
  America. Cretaceous Research 108:
  104337.](http://paleolab.com.br/assets/uploads/files/Aureliano_et_al.%2C_2019.pdf)
- Schwarz D, and Fritsch G. 2006. Pneumatic structures in the cervical
  vertebrae of the Late Jurassic Tendaguru sauropods *Brachiosaurus
  brancai* and *Dicraeosaurus*. Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae 99:65--78.
- Woodward, H.N., and Lehman, T.M. 2009. Bone histology and microanatomy
  of *Alamosaurus sanjuanensis* (Sauropoda: Titanosauria) from the
  Maastrichtian of Big Bend National Park, Texas. Journal of Vertebrate
  Paleontology 29(3):807-821.


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New paper out today: Aureliano et al. (2021) on exquisite pneumaticity in a tiny titanosaur

My spouse, Vicki, the other Dr. Wedel, is a physical and forensic anthropologist. And she’s one of a very small number of scientists who have (a) learned something new about the human body, and (b) used it to help identify dead people.

jfo_546 1..4

None

Hey, look–dinosaurs! My spouse, Vicki, the
<em>
 other
</em>
Dr. Wedel, is a physical and forensic anthropologist. And she’s one of a very small number of scientists who have (a) learned something new about the human body, and (b) used it to help identify dead people. And since that process involves the sciences of hard-tissue histology and skeletochronology–not to mention lots of dead folks–I reckon it might be of interest here. Hence this post.

Rogue Scholar Posts

New paper out today: Aureliano et al. (2021) on exquisite pneumaticity in a tiny titanosaur

Using tooth histology to help identify a murder victim in a 37-year-old cold case