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| TITLE: | Osteological correlates of cervical musculature in Aves and Sauropoda (Dinosauria: Saurischia), with comments on the cervical ribs of Apatosaurus
| | AUTHOR: | Mathew J. Wedel and R. Kent Sanders
| | JOURNAL: | PaleoBios
| | PUBLISHED: | Dec 15, 2002
| | NOTES: | 22(3)
| | ABSTRACT: | The cervical muscles of birds attach to specific bony features on the vertebrae. Most of these osteological correlates are also present in the cervical vertebrae of sauropod dinosaurs, which suggests similar cervical musculature in the two groups. One exception is the processus caroticus, which anchors the long ventral muscles of the bird neck but has no obvious homolog in the vertebrae of sauropods. The absence of anterior processes of the cervical ribs has traditionally been regarded as an autapomorphy of Apatosaurus louisae. However, anterior processes are weakly developed or absent in some specimens of A. ajax and A. excelsus, so this character is probably less diagnostic than previously assumed.
| | COLLECTION: | PaleoBios Archive Public
| | ID: | 150
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