Abstract
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.
Highlights
Mapusaurus is a large carcharodontosaurid, comparable in size to the largest known theropods including Giganotosaurus and Tyrannosaurus
While bone disorders in non-avian theropods may closely resemble conditions in living vertebrates, such as human patients, it is still unclear precisely how dinosaur bone reacted to disease [6] and caution is recommended when attempting to interpret evidence in dinosaur palaeopathology
Infection can cause osseous erosions; this is usually accompanied by exuberant bone growth, which is absent in MCF-PVPH 108–90
Summary
Mapusaurus is a large (up to 11 m long) carcharodontosaurid, comparable in size to the largest known theropods including Giganotosaurus and Tyrannosaurus. Hundreds of disarticulated elements of Mapusaurus were collected from the type locality in a single bonebed at the Canadon del Gato site 20 km southwest of the town of Plaza Huincul, Neuquen Province, Argentina during successive fieldtrips from 1996 to 2000. The material, collected from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Huincul Formation, is relatively poorly preserved; bone surfaces are frequently weathered and individual elements exhibit differential compaction. This monospecific assemblage has important implications regarding the ecology and social behavior of these animals [1,2]. Remains from the Canadon del Gato bonebed suggest the presence of a minimum of seven-to-nine individuals ranging in length from 5.5 m to 11 m. The depositional environment has been interpreted as an ephemeral and/or seasonal channel deposit within a semiarid or arid palaeoenvironment [3]
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