Oklahoma fossil of new diapsid reptile which lived an estimated 289 million years ago shows evidence of dental pathology

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

 

IMAGE: THE TOOTH BEARING ELEMENTS OF THE LOWER JAW SHOWING THE STRONGLY RECURVED PREDATORY DENTITION OF MAIOTHISAVROS. ON THE RIGHT LOWER JAW THE PATHOLOGY IS SHOWN, WITH TEETH MISSING FROM THE MIDDLE AND BONE HAVING CLOSED THE TOOTH SOCKETS. view more 

CREDIT: ETHAN MOONEY, CC-BY 4.0 (HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/)

Article URL:  https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0276772

Article Title: An intriguing new diapsid reptile with evidence of mandibulo-dental pathology from the early Permian of Oklahoma revealed by neutron tomography

Author Countries: Canada, Australia

Funding: Supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) scholarship to T.M., and NSERC grant to R.R.R., and the Jilin University, China. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

---

JOURNAL

PLoS ONE

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0276772 

VIDEO

An intriguing new diapsid reptile with evidence of mandibulo-dental pathology from the early Permian of Oklahoma revealed by neutron tomography

This animation highlights the skeletal and dental anatomy of Maiothisavros, including the pathology, for better visualization of this unique fossil. The new diapsid reptile was studied using neutron computed tomography (ANSTO, Australia), revealing extensive internal data that were otherwise hidden by the encasing rock. Mechanical or chemical preparation of the fossil was impossible for study of the internal structures because of the small size and delicate condition of this unique specimen.

CREDIT

Ethan Mooney & Tea Maho, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)