Abstract
Postcranial Osteology of the First Early-Stage Juvenile Skeleton of Plateosaurus trossingensis (Norian, Frick, Switzerland)
Highlights
Early-stage juveniles have been conspicuously absent. Such specimens are critical in assessing the ontogenetic development of this taxon, as well as the role of heterochrony in sauropodomorph evolution
Its juvenile ontogenetic stage is confirmed by a lack of neurocentral suture fusion in the axial skeleton
Comparisons of body proportions are complicated by varying degrees of compaction in the limb elements, but skeletal proportions mostly appear to follow isometry, with the notable exceptions of a relatively long neck, proportionately larger manus, shorter, more gracile humerus and shorter forearm in the juvenile specimen
Summary
Owing to monospecific mass-accumulation sites in Central Europe, the early-branching sauropodomorph Plateosaurus has one of the best fossil records among dinosaurs. Such specimens are critical in assessing the ontogenetic development of this taxon, as well as the role of heterochrony in sauropodomorph evolution. A new skeleton from the Plateosaurus bonebed at the Gruhalde Quarry (Klettgau Formation, Norian) of Frick, Switzerland, nicknamed “Fabian”, represents the first substantially complete juvenile referrable to Plateosaurus.
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