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Science 16 December 2005:
Vol. 310. no. 5755, pp. 1800 - 1802
DOI: 10.1126/science.1120125
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Reports

Developmental Plasticity in the Life History of a Prosauropod Dinosaur

P. Martin Sander* and Nicole Klein

Long-bone histology indicates that the most common early dinosaur, the prosauropod Plateosaurus engelhardti from the Upper Triassic of Central Europe, had variable life histories. Although Plateosaurus grew at the fast rates typical for dinosaurs, as indicated by fibrolamellar bone, qualitative (growth stop) and quantitative (growth-mark counts) features of its histology are poorly correlated with body size. Individual life histories of P. engelhardti were influenced by environmental factors, as in modern ectothermic reptiles, but not in mammals, birds, or other dinosaurs.

Institut für Paläontologie, Universität Bonn, Nussallee 8, D-53115 Bonn, Germany.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: martin.sander{at}uni-bonn.de

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Ontogenetic stages in the long bone histology of sauropod dinosaurs.
N. Klein and M. Sander (2008)
Paleobiology 34, 247-263
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Modeling growth rates for sauropod dinosaurs.
T. M. Lehman and H. N. Woodward (2008)
Paleobiology 34, 264-281
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)