Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34403433›Full record

ArticlePloS one2021

The cranial anatomy and relationships of Cardiocorax mukulu (Plesiosauria: Elasmosauridae) from Bentiaba, Angola.

Miguel P Marx, Octávio Mateus, Michael J Polcyn, Anne S Schulp, A Olímpio Gonçalves, Louis L Jacobs

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
3.8field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.

Miguel P MarxHuffington Department of Earth Sciences, ISEM at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0003-3768-8032
Octávio MateusGeoBioTec + Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Caparica, Portugal.ORCID 0000-0003-1253-3616
Michael J PolcynHuffington Department of Earth Sciences, ISEM at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, United States of America.
Anne S SchulpNaturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
A Olímpio GonçalvesDepartamento de Geologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade Agostinho Neto, Luanda, Angola.
Louis L JacobsHuffington Department of Earth Sciences, ISEM at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0002-7735-3678
Southern Methodist University · USAgostinho Neto University · AOMuseu da Lourinhã · PTNaturalis Biodiversity Center · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

We report a new specimen of the plesiosaur Cardiocorax mukulu that includes the most complete plesiosaur skull from sub-Saharan Africa. The well-preserved three-dimensional nature of the skull offers rare insight into the cranial anatomy of elasmosaurid plesiosaurians. The new specimen of Cardiocorax mukulu was recovered from Bentiaba, Namibe Province in Angola, approximately three meters above the holotype. The new specimen also includes an atlas-axis complex, seventeen postaxial cervical vertebrae, partial ribs, a femur, and limb elements. It is identified as Cardiocorax mukulu based on an apomorphy shared with the holotype where the cervical neural spine is approximately as long anteroposteriorly as the centrum and exhibits a sinusoidal anterior margin. The new specimen is nearly identical to the holotype and previously referred material in all other aspects. Cardiocorax mukulu is returned in an early-branching or intermediate position in Elasmosauridae in four out of the six of our phylogenetic analyses. Cardiocorax mukulu lacks the elongated cervical vertebrae that is characteristic of the extremely long-necked elasmosaurines, and the broad skull with and a high number of maxillary teeth (28-40) which is characteristic of Aristonectinae. Currently, the most parsimonious explanation concerning elasmosaurid evolutionary relationships, is that Cardiocorax mukulu represents an older lineage of elasmosaurids in the Maastrichtian.

Indexed as

AngolaAnimalsBiological EvolutionCervical VertebraeDinosaursFossilsNeckPhylogenyReptilesRibsSkullTooth

Identifiers

PMID34403433
PMCPMC8370651
OpenAlexW3194641760

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.