2026/01/01 by Hugo Valdez, Matías Fernández, Virginia Zurriagus +3 · 1 voice
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Ichthyology and Marine Biology #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
paper · pdf · doi:10.5710/amgh.04.05.2026.3690
openalex publication_date 2026/01/01 · openalex created_date 2026/06/13 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/14
Abelisaurids are a group of mostly Gondwanan theropod dinosaurs, whose anatomy and phylogenetic relationships are well known. However, this is not the case for some paleobiological aspects such as postcranial pneumaticity. In this work, the pneumaticity of the fifth cervical vertebra of Viavenator exxoni was analyzed. This was done using CT scans and comparing their results with other abelisauroids. Furthermore, in order to obtain a more precise result regarding pneumaticity, an analysis was performed of air space proportion (ASP) of the fifth cervical vertebra of Viavenator exxoni. Viavenator has a polycamerate internal structure, similar to that of some noasaurids from Brazil and Majungasaurus crenatissimus. However, in Viavenator, unlike other analyzed taxa, a ventral pneumatic foramen was found, a unique characteristic among abelisaurids and even theropods. Regarding the ASP, it was found that the vertebra is more pneumatized in the anterior portion than in the posterior portion. This is the first ASP study on an abelisaurid vertebra, making it extremely important to expand this type of analysis in the future across this fascinating group of theropods.