Vertebral Column Mini-Assignment
In lab this week, you will examine the vertebral column. In preparation, please review page 341 in your text book and consider the questions below. The lab will also ask you to determine the age of the excavation site, so please also review Chapter 3 in your textbook about geologic time and the mini-assignment from Week 2.
Examine the five examples of dorsal vertebrae below and then answer the questions:
A.
Figure 8: MSNVE 3714, dorsal vertebrae of Ouranosaurus nigeriensis
(Ornithopod)
Dorsal vertebra 1 in right lateral (A), caudal (B), and ventral view (C); dorsal vertebra 9 in left lateral (D), cranial (E), and ventral view (F) views; dorsal vertebra 17 in left lateral (G), caudal (H) and ventral (I) views. Abbreviations: bpl, ‘bump’ of the prespinal lamina; kl, keel; par, parapophysis. Scale bars equal 10 cm. (Full publication: https://peerj.com/articles/3403/
) B. Figure 5. Dahalokely tokana
holotype (UA 9855), ?second dorsal (D?2) vertebra. (Theropod)
Photographs in A, cranial; B, caudal; C, ventral; D, dorsal; E, left lateral; and F, right lateral views. Abbreviations: cacdl, caudal centrodiapophyseal lamina; cpol, centropostzygapophyseal lamina; cprl, centroprezygapophyseal lamina; crcdl, cranial centrodiapophyseal lamina; idfs, infradiapophyseal fossa; ipofs, infrapostzygapophyseal fossa; iprfs, infraprezygapophyseal fossa; lpfr, laminopeduncular foramen; lpfs, laminopeduncular fossa; pfr, pneumatic foramen; posf, postspinal fossa; prdl, prezygodiapophyseal lamina; prsf, prespinal fossa. (Full publication: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0062047
)
C. Images and video of Stegosaurus
skeleton
(Thyreophoran)
Fig 19. Dorsal vertebra two., same Stegosaurus
skeleton as above.
A
, anterior, B
, posterior, C
, left lateral, D
, right lateral, E
, ventral and F
, dorsal view. Dia
, diapophysis; foss
, fossa; ipzs
, intraprezygapophyseal shelf; mr
, midline ridge; nc
, neural canal; not
, notch; ns
, neural spine; para
, parapophysis; pcdl
, posterior centrodiapophyseal lamina; plat
, platform; podl
, postzygodiapophyseal lamina; pozyg
, postzygapophysis; ppdl
, paradiapophyseal lamina; prdl
, prezygodiapophyseal lamina; przyg
, prezygapophysis; ri
, ridge; vs
, vertical sheet. Scale bar equal to 5 cm. (Full publication: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0138352
)
D. Figure 7: Amargasaurs cazul
. Dorsal vertebrae in anterior and lateral views. CN: Neural canal, D: diapophysis, PP: parapophysis, PRZ: prezygapophysis, PTZ: postzygapophysis. (From Salgado, Leonardo, and José F. Bonaparte. "Un nuevo saurópodo Dicraeosauridae, Amargasurus cazaui gen. et sp. nov., de la Formación La Amarga, Neocomiano de la provincia del Neuquén, Argentina." Ameghiniana 28 (1991): 333-346.) (Sauropod)
