2009/08/26 by Anusuya Chinsamy, Allison R. Tumarkin‐Deratzian · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Medicine · Environmental Science · #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology #Bone Tumor Diagnosis and Treatments #Ichthyology and Marine Biology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1002/ar.20991
openalex publication_date 2009/08/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
We report on similar pathological bone microstructure in an extant turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) and a nonavian dinosaur from Transylvania. Both these individuals exhibit distinctive periosteal reactive bone deposition accompanied by endosteal bone deposits in the medullary cavity. Our findings have direct implications on the two novel bone tissues recently described among nonavian dinosaurs, radial fibrolamellar bone tissue and medullary bone tissue. On the basis of the observed morphology of the periosteal reactive bone in the turkey vulture and the Transylvanian dinosaur, we propose that the radial fibrolamellar bone tissues observed in mature dinosaurs may have had a pathological origin. Our analysis also shows that on the basis of origin, location, and morphology, pathologically derived endosteal bone tissue can be similar to medullary bone tissues described in nonavian dinosaurs. As such, we caution the interpretation of all endosteally derived bone tissue as homologous to avian medullary bone.