- Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Scans reveal snout nervous system of the mighty pliosaur
- Date: 23rd May 2014
- Summary: BRISTOL, ENGLAND, UK (MAY 13, 2014) (REUTERS) WIDE OF PLIOSAUR SKULL VARIOUS CLOSE-UPS OF CHANNELS WIDE OF PLIOSAUR DISPLAY IN MUSEUM CASE
- Embargoed: 7th June 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: United Kingdom
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Environment,Science,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVA9B2EQLFOANJDI564GQ1G5D92U
- Story Text: CT scanning is giving scientists an unprecedented look at pliosaurs, the dominant marine reptile of the Jurassic era. University of Bristol researcher Davide Foffa collated 2,000 individual scans of a fossilised pliosaur's skull and discovered that its snout contained an intricate nerve system similar to that found in crocodiles.
Stunning CT scans of a 200 million-year-old fossilised pliosaur skull reveal that the prehistoric marine reptile had a well-developed sensory system extending to the tip of its long snout.
Researcher Davide Foffa, from the UK's University of Bristol, used CT scanning to find channels in the skull that he believes contained nerves and blood vessels.
Palaeontologists have long known that pliosaur skulls contained small holes called foramina that lead to internal channels, but Foffa's research is the first to successfully trace the networks inside a fossil. In living species, such as humans, cranial nerves, arteries, veins and other structures pass through these foramina.
Using a CT scanner based at the University of Southampton, Foffa traced channels filled with sediment and pyrite in a pliosaur skull unearthed in Dorset in 2009. From the shape of the channels inside the skull, Foffa identified them as containing both the maxillary artery and the trigeminal nerve, which carry signals to and from the upper jaw and snout.
"While looking at the CT scans we found that there were some branches and unusual channels that we never noticed before, so we thought it was a good idea to follow them and trace them digitally, and at the end we discovered these extensive neurovascular web of channels, which we identified as the trigeminal nerve, the maxillary branch of trigeminal nerve," said Foffa.
It isn't clear what these nerves would have been able to sense, but Foffa believes they may have responded to pressure in the same manner as crocodile snouts. Foffa believes the channels may have supplied blood and nerve connections to skin and soft tissue in the snout and that a sensitive snout could have helped pliosaurs hunt prey and manipulate food in the water.
"We found that this kind of system we found in the snout could be linked to prey detection, in a way similar as crocodiles do. In crocodiles the trigeminal nerve goes to some receptor in the snout, which help them (in) detecting movement of preys," said Foffa.
The two-metre long fossil skull has been exceptionally well preserved and is similar to a specimen dating from the same Upper Jurassic period, kept next door to Foffa's office building, among the collections of the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery.
The carnivorous pliosaur was around eight metres in length, with a large, crocodile-like head, a short neck, whale-like body and four powerful flippers to propel it through water as it used its large jaws to hunt for prey, which included fish, cephalopod molluscs, and other marine reptiles. They were the top marine predators of the Jurassic period and are believed to have swum at speeds of around 10 kilometres per hour. Palaentologists have long experienced problems studying their biology because there are no creatures alive today that resemble them.
Foffa and colleagues completed at least 2,000 scans of 16 individual pieces of the fossilised skull using computed tomography (CT) scanning, which uses X-rays to make detailed pictures of structures inside the body. He believes CT scanning promises to revolutionise paleantology. "It allows the study of hidden details without actually destroying specimens. This is important, these are non-destructive techniques which allows not only the visualisation of anatomical details but also of processes like tooth replacment or things that you can not see from the outside," said Foffa.
Foffa believes his research will help improve our understanding of the marine reptile from the Mesozoic era. The two most commonly known varieties of pliosaur are Liopleurodon and Kronosaurus.
Pliosaurs lived mostly in the prehistoric seas that covered modern-day Europe. Skull fossils have been found in England, Mexico, Australia, South America, and the Arctic Norwegian island of Svalbard. Eventually the mosasaurs took over the Pliosaur niche in the prehistoric seas. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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