Spinosaurid avian-like salt glands
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Ben Creisler
May 22, 2026, 10:27:49 AMMay 22
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Ben Creisler
A new paper:
Andrea Cau, Neil J. Gostling, Mauro B. S. Lacerda, Mario Falasca & Alessandro Paterna (2026)
Avian-like salt glands in Spinosauridae
Historical Biology (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2026.2669954
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2026.2669954
Despite their exceptional diversification on land, non-avian dinosaurs barely exploited the marine realm. This contrasts with birds, which have successfully adapted to the marine environment several times since the Cretaceous. One morpho-physiological novelty driving bird adaptation to high-salinity habitats was the evolution of supraorbitally placed salt glands (SSGs), convergently acquired only by marine iguanas among other sauropsids. Although putative osteological correlates of the salt gland were suggested for some non-avian dinosaurs, robust evidence of the SSG in Dinosauria is currently restricted to the euornithine birds. Here, we report the osteological correlates of the SSG and its excretory duct in the non-avian dinosaur clade Spinosauridae. The spinosaurid SSG was unique among large-bodied predatory dinosaurs and evolved independently from birds in the ecologically specialised spinosaurine lineage which exploited brackish conditions. Comparison with birds and marine iguanas suggests that autapomorphic traits gained along spinosaurid craniofacial evolution resulted in an abbreviated orbito-narial distance and acted as exaptations for the migration of the nasal gland to the supraorbital position. The limited exploitation of the marine realm by non-avian dinosaurs could have been conditioned by constraints in their craniofacial architecture which limited the evolutionary plasticity of the osmoregulatory glands.
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Blog:
Spinosaurus paleobiology - more than just the aquatic debate: AVIAN-LIKE SALT GLANDS IN SPINOSAURUS!
https://theropoda.blogspot.com/2026/06/spinosaurus-paleobiology-more-than-just.html
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Avian-like salt glands in Spinosauridae
Historical Biology (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2026.2669954
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2026.2669954
Despite their exceptional diversification on land, non-avian dinosaurs barely exploited the marine realm. This contrasts with birds, which have successfully adapted to the marine environment several times since the Cretaceous. One morpho-physiological novelty driving bird adaptation to high-salinity habitats was the evolution of supraorbitally placed salt glands (SSGs), convergently acquired only by marine iguanas among other sauropsids. Although putative osteological correlates of the salt gland were suggested for some non-avian dinosaurs, robust evidence of the SSG in Dinosauria is currently restricted to the euornithine birds. Here, we report the osteological correlates of the SSG and its excretory duct in the non-avian dinosaur clade Spinosauridae. The spinosaurid SSG was unique among large-bodied predatory dinosaurs and evolved independently from birds in the ecologically specialised spinosaurine lineage which exploited brackish conditions. Comparison with birds and marine iguanas suggests that autapomorphic traits gained along spinosaurid craniofacial evolution resulted in an abbreviated orbito-narial distance and acted as exaptations for the migration of the nasal gland to the supraorbital position. The limited exploitation of the marine realm by non-avian dinosaurs could have been conditioned by constraints in their craniofacial architecture which limited the evolutionary plasticity of the osmoregulatory glands.
****
Blog:
Spinosaurus paleobiology - more than just the aquatic debate: AVIAN-LIKE SALT GLANDS IN SPINOSAURUS!
https://theropoda.blogspot.com/2026/06/spinosaurus-paleobiology-more-than-just.html
====
Ben Creisler
May 29, 2026, 11:58:34 AM (8 days ago) May 29
to DinosaurMa...@googlegroups.com
The pdf is now free:
Andrea Cau, Neil J. Gostling, Mauro B. S. Lacerda, Mario Falasca & Alessandro Paterna (2026)
Avian-like salt glands in Spinosauridae
Historical Biology (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2026.2669954
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2026.2669954
Avian-like salt glands in Spinosauridae
Historical Biology (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2026.2669954
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2026.2669954
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Also:
News:
https://www.iflscience.com/why-werent-there-any-marine-dinosaurs-a-newly-identified-feature-in-spinosaurus-skulls-has-scientists-asking-if-salt-could-be-the-answer-83667
https://www.science.org/content/article/some-spinosaurs-cried-salty-tears-thrive-brackish-waters
https://lnginnorthernbc.ca/2026/05/28/brazilian-dinosaur-cried-to-survive-understand-why/
https://www.iflscience.com/why-werent-there-any-marine-dinosaurs-a-newly-identified-feature-in-spinosaurus-skulls-has-scientists-asking-if-salt-could-be-the-answer-83667
https://www.science.org/content/article/some-spinosaurs-cried-salty-tears-thrive-brackish-waters
https://lnginnorthernbc.ca/2026/05/28/brazilian-dinosaur-cried-to-survive-understand-why/
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