Liang, Q, Falkingham, PL and Xing, L (2024) Virtual skeleton and body mass for revealing the life strategies of Sinosaurus. Historical Biology. pp. 1-15. ISSN 0891-2963

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Abstract

Sinosaurus from the Lufeng Basin, Yunnan Province, is the largest and most famous predatory dinosaur from the Early Jurassic in China. Although a number of specimens have been discovered in the past, no studies to date have focused exclusively on complete skeletal articulation, estimation of mass, or life strategies. Based on surface scans of a new well-preserved specimen, a digital skeleton of Sinosaurus was produced in two poses: osteologically neutral pose and extended pose. We estimated the possible living body mass by three volumetric-density methods, advocating the use of the expanding convex hulls method of 849.6 kg with the COM (0.41, 1.31, 0.00) as a more reliable result, which is greater than the mass of traditional regression formulas. The body shape and skull/body length suggested that Sinosaurus was a great runner, and this, combined with the weak crests and large forelimbs, further led to the conclusion that both the head and forelimbs were required to prey. This finding is also consistent with the finding that Sinosaurus has a moderate ability to metabolise body heat in the skin, as reflected by the surface/volume ratio.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an Accepted Manuscript version of the following article, accepted for publication in Historical Biology. Liang, Q., Falkingham, P. L., & Xing, L. (2024). Virtual skeleton and body mass for revealing the life strategies of Sinosaurus. Historical Biology, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2024.2385615 It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way
Uncontrolled Keywords:	0403 Geology; 06 Biological Sciences; 0602 Ecology; 0603 Evolutionary Biology; Paleontology
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
Divisions:	Biological & Environmental Sciences (from Sep 19)
Publisher:	Informa UK Limited
SWORD Depositor:	A Symplectic
Date Deposited:	19 Aug 2024 13:18
Last Modified:	19 Aug 2024 13:18
DOI or ID number:	10.1080/08912963.2024.2385615
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/23976

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