Premium
First Evidence of Pathology in the Forelimb of the Late Miocene Saber‐Toothed Felid Promegantereon ogygia (Machairodontinae, Smilodontini)
Author(s) -
Salesa Manuel J.,
Antón Mauricio,
Siliceo Gema,
Pesquero María Dolores,
Alcalá Luis
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the anatomical record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.678
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1932-8494
pISSN - 1932-8486
DOI - 10.1002/ar.22902
Subject(s) - forelimb , lesion , anatomy , biology , exostosis , crest , medicine , pathology , physics , quantum mechanics
We examined the first evidence of pathology in the forelimb of the primitive saber‐toothed felid Promegantereon ogygia, observed in a radius from the late Miocene (Vallesian, MN 10) site of La Roma 2 (Teruel, Spain). This fossil is the first evidence of a member of the Machairodontinae in this locality, and the first fossil of this species found in the Miocene basin of Teruel. The radius shows an exostosis shaped as a rough and wide bony crest probably caused by the lesion and posterior ossification of part of the tendon of the muscle abductor pollicis longus, an important extensor and abductor of the thumb. The lesion was probably due to a tearing or to high levels of exertion experienced by this muscle over a relatively long time, a general type of lesion also observed in other vertebrate fossils. With saber‐toothed felids using their thumbs to immobilize prey during the hunt, the studied lesion probably affected in a significant manner the predatory abilities of the animal, causing at least a decrease in its hunting success rate. Anat Rec, 297:1090–1095, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.