Medusaceratops caudal vertebra with pathology (free pdf)
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Ben Creisler
12:25 PM (1 hour ago) 12:25 PM
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Ben Creisler
A new paper:
Donghao Wang, Lida Xing, Bruce M. Rothschild, Chunlei Du, Kexiang Wen, Jin Lin, Mengling Kang & Jiayin Su (2026)
A case of an expansile lesion in a caudal vertebra of Medusaceratops lokii.
Fossil Record 29(2): 599-610.
doi: https://doi.org/10.3897/fr.29.193112
https://fr.pensoft.net/article/193112/list/9/
This study presents the first documented case of chronic osteomyelitis with a draining sinus tract in the centrosaurine ceratopsid Medusaceratops lokii, based on a pathological seventh caudal vertebra from the Upper Cretaceous Judith River Formation of Montana. Integrated macroscopic and computed tomography analyses revealed pathognomonic features of chronic osteomyelitis secondary to trauma, including extensive hyperostosis with “cauliflower-shaped” bone overgrowths, moth-eaten osteolysis, sclerosis, a definitive sinus tract, and occult fractures associated with the destruction of the bilateral transverse processes. The development of a substantial involucrum confirms prolonged post-traumatic survival, attesting to robust immunological resilience in ceratopsid dinosaurs. A review of the 81 reported cases of dinosaurian infection indicates that osteomyelitis represents the predominant lesion type and that the great majority of cases are post-traumatic. Bone infection therefore appears to have been seeded principally through traumatic breaches rather than arising chiefly via non-traumatic routes, and the anatomical distribution of infectious lesions also differs among the major clades.
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Free pdf:
Donghao Wang, Lida Xing, Bruce M. Rothschild, Chunlei Du, Kexiang Wen, Jin Lin, Mengling Kang & Jiayin Su (2026)
A case of an expansile lesion in a caudal vertebra of Medusaceratops lokii.
Fossil Record 29(2): 599-610.
doi: https://doi.org/10.3897/fr.29.193112
https://fr.pensoft.net/article/193112/list/9/
This study presents the first documented case of chronic osteomyelitis with a draining sinus tract in the centrosaurine ceratopsid Medusaceratops lokii, based on a pathological seventh caudal vertebra from the Upper Cretaceous Judith River Formation of Montana. Integrated macroscopic and computed tomography analyses revealed pathognomonic features of chronic osteomyelitis secondary to trauma, including extensive hyperostosis with “cauliflower-shaped” bone overgrowths, moth-eaten osteolysis, sclerosis, a definitive sinus tract, and occult fractures associated with the destruction of the bilateral transverse processes. The development of a substantial involucrum confirms prolonged post-traumatic survival, attesting to robust immunological resilience in ceratopsid dinosaurs. A review of the 81 reported cases of dinosaurian infection indicates that osteomyelitis represents the predominant lesion type and that the great majority of cases are post-traumatic. Bone infection therefore appears to have been seeded principally through traumatic breaches rather than arising chiefly via non-traumatic routes, and the anatomical distribution of infectious lesions also differs among the major clades.
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