Stegosaurus chirality
R. P. Cameron, J. A. Cameron, S. M. Barnett
TL;DR
This paper investigates the exterior chirality of Stegosaurus plates, providing evidence that they tilted consistently to one side, supporting the hypothesis that plates served primarily as display structures.
Contribution
It is the first detailed analysis demonstrating the consistent exterior chirality of Stegosaurus plates and clarifies previous specimen confusions related to mirror-image forms.
Findings
Stegosaurus plates exhibit consistent right-tilted exterior chirality.
Specimen analysis supports the display function hypothesis.
Clarifies previous specimen misidentifications.
Abstract
We explain that Stegosaurus exhibited exterior chirality and observe that the largest plate in particular of USNM 4394, USNM 4714, DMNS 2818 and NHMUK R36730 appears to have tilted to the right rather than to the left in each case. Several instances in which Stegosaurus specimens have been confused with their distinct, hypothetical mirror-image forms are highlighted. We believe our findings to be consistent with the hypothesis that Stegosaurus's plates acted primarily as display structures. A collection of more than one Stegosaurus might be referred to henceforth as a 'handful' of Stegosaurus.
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Taxonomy
TopicsPaleontology and Evolutionary Biology · Evolution and Paleontology Studies · Plant Diversity and Evolution