Ryan J. Clayton (2018)
Description of unusual pathological disorders on pubes and associated left femur from a Diplodocus specimen.
Paludicola 11(4): 179-187Â
The main hypothesis of this study is that a Diplodocus was injured, resulting in a variety of paleopathologies described herein. Several bones have unusual pathologies, such as a left pubis bone with an abnormal growth and a left femur with an extended fourth trochanter. Pathologies present in these bones suggest an injury from an unknown cause, which the Diplodocus survived. The left pubis bone growth shows signs of possibly being purulent, and the right pubis shows evidence of healing after fracturing due to the presence of a callus. Osteomyelitis may have occurred in a growth from a pubis and enthesitis on the left femur, causing an extension to the fourth trochanter on the left femur from muscle strain. The extension of the fourth trochanter on the left femur suggests that the m. caudofemoralis longus on the left femur was also damaged by the injury, and the healing process involved fibrous entheseal changes to strengthen the muscle attachment site. It remains unknown if it was damaged in the same impact injury or from a different, unrelated scenario.