The earliest fractured tetrapod bone |
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| Authors: | Anne Warren Ron Ptasznik |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Zoology , La Trobe University Medical Centre;2. La Trobe University , Melbourne, Victoria, Australia , 3086a.warren@zoo.latrobe.edu.au;4. Medical Imaging Department , La Trobe University Medical Centre;5. La Trobe University , Melbourne, Victoria, Australia , 3086 |
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| Abstract: | A tetrapod radius from the Early Carboniferous Ducabrook Formation of the Drummond Basin, Queensland, is described. Early tetrapod radii are scarce in the fossil record but comparison with those available suggests that the new specimen is morphologically primitive. An unusual swelling of the proximal extensor surface is shown, by X-ray, to be a comminuted fracture, the earliest bone fracture recorded among tetrapods. |
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| Keywords: | fracture radius Carboniferous palaeopathology tetrapod |
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