List of pathological dinosaur specimens
This list of pathological dinosaur specimens enumerates those fossil dinosaur specimens that preserve evidence of injury, disease, deformity or parasitic infection.
Ankylosauria
Nickname | Catalogue Number | Institution | Taxon | Age | Unit | Country | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DMNH 65883 | Gastonia new species |
Ceratopsians
Nickname | Catalogue Number | Institution | Taxon | Age | Unit | Country | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N/A | CMN 41357[1] | Vagaceratops irvinensis | Campanian | Dinosaur Park Formation | Canada | A smooth depression set into a patch of wrinkly-textured bone above the right eye and the squamosal bone, probably due to advanced age. This individuals neck exhibits extensive bony growth with a "cauliflower" texture fusing the fifth through 9th vertebrae and their ribs. Rega, Holmes, and Tirabasso have hypothesized that this growth was a chondrosarcoma resulting from several osteochondromas occurring there. They also identified a benign osteoma in the fourth toe of the right hind foot. They also found lesions and bony growths deforming the animal's first right metacarpal.[2] | ![]() | |
N/A | ROM 843[1] | Royal Ontario Museum | Chasmosaurus belli | Canada | The skull of ROM 843 exhibits resorption of bone both near the eye-horns and on the frill, thought to be signs of aging. It also has bony growths on its fourth right metacarpal and on its eighth and ninth body ribs. However, the most important pathology are the many lesions covering the animal's thumbs. These lesions give the bone a very rough texture and deform the digits. The right thumb was the most severely deformed and is bent at a 42 degree angle, while the left thumb was bent 20 degrees away from healthy alignment. | |||
N/A | TMP 79.11.9[3] | Centrosaurus | Canada | An unidentifiable skull bone from this specimen seems to have been "[d]iseased". | ||||
N/A | TMP 82.18.227[3] | Centrosaurus | Canada | A round exostosis formed on the shaft of this specimen's ulna. | ||||
N/A | TMP 85.112.39[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Campanian | Wapiti Formation | Canada | One of the rearward left dorsal ribs has a false joint. | ||
N/A | TMP 85.112.52[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Campanian | Wapiti Formation | Canada | This animal seems to have broken the shaft of one of its middle ribs and a bony callus formed there. | ||
N/A | TMP 85.112.70[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Campanian | Wapiti Formation | Canada | This specimen developed a stress fracture in one of its phalanges. | ||
N/A | TMP 85.112.86[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Campanian | Canada | One of this specimen's ribs had a false joint. | |||
N/A | TMP 86.55.111[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | A rounded growth of unknown origins projects from the underside of this specimen's squamosal bone. Tanke and Rothschild failed to determine its cause, but hypothesized that it might be the result of an avulsion injury. | ||||
N/A | TMP 86.55.304[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | The jugal and epijugal of this specimen bear a 2 cm wide round hole, although Tanke and Rothschild have considered that this hole may have formed as a result of non-pathological processes. | ||||
N/A | TMP 87.18.27[3] | Canada | One of this specimen's vertebrae is deformed. | |||||
N/A | TMP 87.55.90[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | One of this animal's rear right dorsal ribs was broken twice. One of the fractures formed a false joint. | ||||
N/A | TMP 87.55.101[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | The left quadrate of this animal is concave where it should be convex, bears a bone spur, and has a 2 cm long rounded pit. | ||||
N/A | TMP 87.55.102[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | Four of the vertebrae near the tip of this animal's tail fused together. | ||||
N/A | TMP 87.55.190[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | This animal had two oval-shaped lesions on its left shoulder blade. | ||||
N/A | TMP 87.55.210[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | This animal broke the rear part of the left side of its frill area and lost the spike there. The frill healed in a deformed asymmetrical manner. | ||||
N/A | TMP 88.55.52[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | One of this animal's neck vertebrae exhibited several pathologies. This vertebra had deformed prezygapophyses, a bone spure on its centrum and the rear surface of its end plat Tanke and Rothschild characterized as having a "'moth-eaten' appearance". | ||||
N/A | TMP 88.55.90[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | This animal's parietal bar was eroded, possibly due to osteomyelitis. | ||||
N/A | TMP 88.55.191[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | This animal had a "healing" fracture in one of its rear right dorsal ribs. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.18.108[3] | Canada | This animal broke one of its fibulae, which healed to form a false joint. | |||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.63[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | The neck of one of this specimen's ribs had a "healing" fracture. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.125[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | This animal fractured the rear part of its parietal and a false joint formed there. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.205[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | One of this specimens left rear dorsal ribs has a false joint. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.188[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | The beak of this specimen is missing the rounded notch seen in most Pachyrhinosaurus. According to Tanke and Rothschild, this absence may not necessarily be due to pathology, however. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.269[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | The cortex of this animal's postorbital bone was deeply infolded near the animal's forehead. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.287[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | The neural spine of one of the vertebrae mid-length down the animal's tail was fractured. The bone around the fractured area was also eroded. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.363[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | A vertebra near the base of the tail had a fractured neural spine. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.389[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | One of this animal's left rear dorsal ribs was fractured. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.464[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | The underside of one of its left dorsal ribs was swollen. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.719[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | A bony callus grew at the site of a fractured rib in this specimen. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.883[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | This animal had a small, round exostosis on its parietal bone. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.899[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | This Pachyrhinosaurus had an unusually shaped nasal boss. Tanke and Rothschild could not confirm that this trait was due to pathological causes. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.978[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | This animal had a neck vertebra whose neural arch failed to fuse to its centrum as the animal grew. Further, this vertebra's right prezygapophysis was "misshapen". | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.1072[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | This animal's right quadrate was cracked and had a pit near the bone's medial condyle. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.1085[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | The rear of this animal's parietal is asymmetrical and the third parietal spike is curved upwards instead of outwards. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.1091[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | This specimen's epijugal and jugal bore a pit. Tanke and Rothschild could not confirm that this pit was pathological, however. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.1234[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | This specimen was afflicted by several pathologies of its skull. One was a "large hole" located in below and in front of the right eye. There was also a short round growth on the left branch of the maxilla and lesions on the left squamosal. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.1300[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | This specimen had a bony lump on the underside of one of its rear left dorsal ribs' necks. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.1503[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | The horns on the rear edge of the right parietal were larger and curved in a different direction than those on the left side. Tanke and Rothschild suggested that this asymmetry may just be an anatomical idiosyncrasy of this individual animal rather than a pathology. | ||||
N/A | TMP 89.55.1541[5] | Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp. | Canada | This specimen had a "[s]mall rounded exostosis" on its parietal. | ||||
N/A | TMP 90.18.1[3] | Canada | A thin callus of bone formed on one of this specimen's ribs. | |||||
N/A | TMP 91.18.18[3] | Canada | This specimen has a lesion on its left squamosal bone. | |||||
N/A | TMP 91.18.30[3] | Canada | The far end of one of this specimen's phalanges is covered in pits. | |||||
N/A | TMP 91.18.31[3] | Canada | One of this specimens rear dorsal ribs has a callus that formed at the site of a fracture. | |||||
N/A | TMP 91.18.77[3] | Canada | One of this specimen's rear ribs has a large false joint. | |||||
Canada | An isolated ceratopsian neck vertebra with healed fracture. | |||||||
DMNH D2596 | Dalian Museum of Natural History | Aptian | China | |||||
JZMP-V-11 |
Sauropodomorphs
Nickname | Catalogue number | Institution | Taxon | Age | Unit | Country | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N/A | DMNH 2908[6] | United States[6] | The right humerus of this animal exhibits a spur-like lesion resulting from the healing process following a "stress injury or repetitive overexertion of the muscles resulting in an avulsion". This spur-like lesion would have caused long term fasciitis and myosistis.[7] | |||||
MCS-PV 183 |
Stegosaurs
Nickname | Catalogue Number | Institution | Taxon | Age | Unit | Country | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N/A | DMNH 2818 | United States | ||||||
N/A | USNM 6646 | United States |
Theropods
Nickname | Catalogue Number | Institution | Taxon | Age | Unit | Country | Notes | Images |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
N/A | PVSJ 407 | Museo de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de San Juan | ||||||
N/A | USMN 4735 | |||||||
N/A | UCMP 37302 | |||||||
N/A | IVPP 84019 | |||||||
N/A | USNM 4734 | |||||||
N/A | USNM 8367 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 1847 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 2252 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 3435 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 687 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 1848 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 4159 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 1742 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 4895 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 3773 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 5256 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 3811 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 177 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 1849 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 1850 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 837 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 1851 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 1657 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 1528 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 5599 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 1852 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 1853 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 1854 | |||||||
N/A | UUVP 1855 | |||||||
N/A | YPM 4944 | |||||||
N/A | MOR 693 | |||||||
N/A | MIWG 6348 | |||||||
N/A | BMNH R10001 | |||||||
N/A | IVPP 10600 | |||||||
N/A | OMNH 8-0-59 | |||||||
N/A | SMU 74646 | |||||||
N/A | SGM-Din 1 | |||||||
N/A | YPM 5205 | |||||||
N/A | IGM 100/976 | |||||||
N/A | IGM 100/979 | |||||||
N/A | ZPALNo.MgD-I/6 | |||||||
N/A | TMP 79.8.1 | Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology | ||||||
N/A | ROM 807 | |||||||
N/A | NMC 8506 | |||||||
N/A | NMC 2120 | |||||||
N/A | TMP91.36.500 | |||||||
N/A | AMNH 5027 | |||||||
N/A | LACM 23844 | |||||||
N/A | MOR 008 | |||||||
Stan | BHI-3033 | |||||||
UUVP 2742 | ||||||||
Sue | United States | Sue the T. rex, also known as FMNH PR2081, suffered an avulsion that left a divot and hook-shaped bone spur on "her" right humerus.[8] The divot appears to be located at the origin of the deltoid or teres major muscles.[8] Some experts have hypothesized that gout caused the formation of small patches of eroded bone discovered on Sue's first and second metacarpals.[9] Five other pathologies have been documented in Sue; a pathology on each side of its skull, a twisted and discolored tooth, two pathological tail vertebrae in series, and a broken and healed fibula with associated abnormal bone growth.[10] | ![]() |
Footnotes
- ^ a b Rega, Holmes, and Tirabasso (2010); "Abstract", page 340.
- ^ Rega, Holmes, and Tirabasso (2010); "Table 24.1", page 344.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Tanke and Rothschild (2010); "Table 25.2", page 377.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq Tanke and Rothschild (2010); "Institutional Abbreviations", page 356.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah Tanke and Rothschild (2010); "Table 25.2", page 378.
- ^ a b c McWhinney, Carpenter, and Rothschild (2001); "Introduction", page 365.
- ^ a b McWhinney, Carpenter, and Rothschild (2001); "Abstract", page 364.
- ^ a b Rothschild, et al. (2001); "Discussion", page 334.
- ^ Molnar (2001); "Tyrannosauridae", pages 344-345.
- ^ Molnar (2001); "Tyrannosauridae", page 345.
References
- McWhinney, L., Carpenter, K., and Rothschild, B., 2001, Dinosaurian humeral periostitis: a case of a juxtacortical lesion in the fossil record: In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, pp. 364–377
- Molnar, R. E., 2001, Theropod paleopathology: a literature survey, In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, p. 337-363.
- Rega, Elizabeth; Holmes, Robert; Tirabasso, Alex (2010). "Chapter 24: Habitual Locomotor Behavior Inferred from Manual Pathology in Two Late Cretaceous Chasmosaurine Ceratopsid Dinosaurs, Chasmosaurus irvinensis (CMN 41357) and Chasmosaurus belli (ROM 843)". In Ryan, Michael J.; Chinnery-Allgeier, Brenda J.; Eberth, David A. (eds.). New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology Ceratopsian Symposium. Indiana University Press. pp. 340–354. ISBN 978-0253353580.
- Rothschild, B., Tanke, D. H., and Ford, T. L., 2001, Theropod stress fractures and tendon avulsions as a clue to activity, In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, p. 331-336.
- Tanke, Darren H.; Rothschild, Bruce M. (2010). "Chapter 25: Paleopathologies in Albertan Ceratopsids and Their Behavioral Significance". In Ryan, Michael J.; Chinnery-Allgeier, Brenda J.; Eberth, David A. (eds.). New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology Ceratopsian Symposium. Indiana University Press. pp. 355–384. ISBN 978-0253353580.