ArticlePloS one2015
Oldest pathology in a tetrapod bone illuminates the origin of terrestrial vertebrates.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Skeletal pathologies in extant crocodilians as a window into the paleopathology of fossil archosaurs.Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2026Article
- Bony injuries in a Late Triassic forerunner of mammals from Brazil.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2025Article
- Applying 3D Models of Giant Salamanders to Explore Form-Function Relationships in Early Digit-Bearing Tetrapods.Integrative and comparative biology · 2024Article
- Osteohistology of Greererpeton provides insight into the life history of an early Carboniferous tetrapod.Journal of anatomy · 2021Review
- Locomotory behaviour of early tetrapods from Blue Beach, Nova Scotia, revealed by novel microanatomical analysis.Royal Society open science · 2021Article
- Evolution of forelimb musculoskeletal function across the fish-to-tetrapod transition.Science advances · 2021Article
- Pain in dinosaurs: what is the evidence?Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2019Review
- Article
- The effects of cracks on the quantification of the cancellous bone fabric tensor in fossil and archaeological specimens: a simulation study.Journal of anatomy · 2017Article
- First diagnosis of septic arthritis in a dinosaur.Royal Society open science · 2016Article
- Tetrapod-like pelvic girdle in a walking cavefish.Scientific reports · 2016Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
The origin of terrestrial tetrapods was a key event in vertebrate evolution, yet how and when it occurred remains obscure, due to scarce fossil evidence. Here, we show that the study of palaeopathologies, such as broken and healed bones, can help elucidate poorly understood behavioural transitions such as this. Using high-resolution finite element analysis, we demonstrate that the oldest known broken tetrapod bone, a radius of the primitive stem tetrapod Ossinodus pueri from the mid-Viséan (333 million years ago) of Australia, fractured under a high-force, impact-type loading scenario. The nature of the fracture suggests that it most plausibly occurred during a fall on land. Augmenting this are new osteological observations, including a preferred directionality to the trabecular architecture of cancellous bone. Together, these results suggest that Ossinodus, one of the first large (>2m length) tetrapods, spent a significant proportion of its life on land. Our findings have important implications for understanding the temporal, biogeographical and physiological contexts under which terrestriality in vertebrates evolved. They push the date for the origin of terrestrial tetrapods further back into the Carboniferous by at least two million years. Moreover, they raise the possibility that terrestriality in vertebrates first evolved in large tetrapods in Gondwana rather than in small European forms, warranting a re-evaluation of this important evolutionary event.
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