Fig 1.
Partial tails from three specimens of Plateosaurus trossingensis in left lateral view.
(A) First 24 caudal vertebrae and chevrons of GPIT-PV-30784 with the locations of B and C indicated using brackets; the dashed bracket for C indicates uncertainty about the position of the chevrons (see text for discussion). (B) Caudal vertebrae 7–13 and chevrons 7–12 of SMNS 13200; the bracket indicates the three pathological chevrons. (C) Pathological chevrons of SMNS 91296 with drawings of the corresponding vertebrae.
Fig 2.
Pathological chevrons of SMNS 13200.
(A) Ch8 in cranial view. (B) μCT image of Ch8 in transverse view; location of section indicated in A. (C) Ch9 in cranial view. (D) Distal end of Ch9 in left lateral view; location of view indicated in C. (E) μCT cross-section image of Ch9 in transverse view; location of section indicated in C. (F) μCT cross-section image of Ch9 in craniocaudal view; location of section indicated in D. (G) Ch10 in cranial view. (H) μCT cross-section image of Ch10 in transverse view; location of the section indicated in G. Big arrows in B, E and H indicate the cranial side of the bone. Arrowheads in B and E indicate the separation between the reactive periosteal bone and the cortical bone. “t” in D indicates a taphonomic hole. Arrows with asterisk (*) indicate the disturbance of the cortical bone on the cranial margin.
Fig 3.
Chevron lengths of four specimens of Plateosaurus trossingensis from the Trossingen locality.
X-axis describes the position of the chevron. Y-axis describes the length of the chevrons in centimeters. A large step in length is visible between the 7th and 8th chevrons of SMNS 13200, not present in any of the other specimens.
Fig 4.
Pathological chevrons of SMNS 91296.
(A) Ch“1” in cranial view. (B) μCT image of Ch“1” in craniocaudal view, representing the area indicated by the dotted line in A. (C) Ch“2” in cranial view. (D) μCT cross-section image of Ch“2” in transverse view; location of section indicated in C. (E) μCT cross-section image of Ch“2” in transverse view; location of section indicated in C. (F) μCT image of Ch“2” in craniocaudal view, representing the area indicated by the dotted line in C; arrows indicate the line separation between the original proximal and distal portions of the chevrons that were displaced. (G) Ch“3” in cranial view; “t” indicates a taphonomic fracture. (H) μCT image of Ch“3” in craniocaudal view; location of the section in G. (I) Same μCT as in H, with red lines indicating the displacement of the cortical bone. (J) Cross section of Ch“3” exposed after a recent fracture of the specimen.
Fig 5.
Muscle reconstructions on Plateosaurus trossingensis.
(A) Skeletal reconstruction of GPIT-PV-30784, with the location of the pathologies on SMNS 13200 and SMNS 91296 marked (skeletal drawing and silhouette: copyright Scott Hartman, 2013; used with permission). (B) Lateral view of the anterior portion of the tail of GPIT-PV-30784 with reconstructions of the muscles in sagittal cross-section; red circles indicate the locations of the lesions for SMNS 13200 and SMNS 91296. (C) Cross-section of the tail of SMNS 13200 at the posterior end of the 6th caudal vertebra with reconstructions of muscles and fat reserves; note that the cross-section is an anatomical abstraction and depicts the neural arch and chevron in the same vertical plane. Muscle reconstructions based on Díez Díaz et al. [46], fat deposit (Fd) reconstructions based on modern crocodilians [43].