List of pathological dinosaur specimens

This list of pathological dinosaur specimens enumerates those fossil dinosaur specimens that preserve evidence of injury, disease, deformity or parasitic infection.

## Ankylosauria

[edit]

Nickname  | Catalogue Number  | Institution  | Taxon  | Age  | Unit  | Country  | Notes  | Images

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DMNH 65883

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Gastonia new species

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## Ceratopsians

[edit]

Nickname  | Catalogue Number  | Institution  | Taxon  | Age  | Unit  | Country  | Notes  | Images

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N/A

CMN 41357[1]

Canadian Museum of Nature

Vagaceratops irvinensis

Campanian

Dinosaur Park Formation

Canada

A smooth depression set into a patch of wrinkly-textured bone above the right eye and the squamosal bone, probably due to advanced age. This individuals neck exhibits extensive bony growth with a "cauliflower" texture fusing the fifth through 9th vertebrae and their ribs. Rega, Holmes, and Tirabasso have hypothesized that this growth was a chondrosarcoma resulting from several osteochondromas occurring there. They also identified a benign osteoma in the fourth toe of the right hind foot. They also found lesions and bony growths deforming the animal's first right metacarpal.[2]

|  The skull of CMN 41357.

N/A

ROM 843[1]

Royal Ontario Museum

Chasmosaurus belli

|  |  |

Canada

The skull of ROM 843 exhibits resorption of bone both near the eye-horns and on the frill, thought to be signs of aging. It also has bony growths on its fourth right metacarpal and on its eighth and ninth body ribs. However, the most important pathology are the many lesions covering the animal's thumbs. These lesions give the bone a very rough texture and deform the digits. The right thumb was the most severely deformed and is bent at a 42 degree angle, while the left thumb was bent 20 degrees away from healthy alignment.

N/A

TMP 79.11.9[3]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Centrosaurus

|  |  |

Canada

An unidentifiable skull bone from this specimen seems to have been "[d]iseased".

N/A

TMP 82.18.227[3]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Centrosaurus

|  |  |

Canada

A round exostosis formed on the shaft of this specimen's ulna.

N/A

TMP 85.112.39[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

One of the rearward left dorsal ribs has a false joint.

N/A

TMP 85.112.52[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

This animal seems to have broken the shaft of one of its middle ribs and a bony callus formed there.

N/A

TMP 85.112.70[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

This specimen developed a stress fracture in one of its phalanges.

N/A

TMP 85.112.86[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

One of this specimen's ribs had a false joint.

N/A

TMP 86.55.111[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

A rounded growth of unknown origins projects from the underside of this specimen's squamosal bone. Tanke and Rothschild failed to determine its cause, but hypothesized that it might be the result of an avulsion injury.

N/A

TMP 86.55.304[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

The jugal and epijugal of this specimen bear a 2 cm wide round hole, although Tanke and Rothschild have considered that this hole may have formed as a result of non-pathological processes.

N/A

TMP 87.18.27[3]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Centrosaurus

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Canada

One of this specimen's vertebrae is deformed.

N/A

TMP 87.55.90[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

One of this animal's rear right dorsal ribs was broken twice. One of the fractures formed a false joint.

N/A

TMP 87.55.101[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

The left quadrate of this animal is concave where it should be convex, bears a bone spur, and has a 2 cm long rounded pit.

N/A

TMP 87.55.102[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

Four of the vertebrae near the tip of this animal's tail fused together.

N/A

TMP 87.55.190[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

This animal had two oval-shaped lesions on its left shoulder blade.

N/A

TMP 87.55.210[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

This animal broke the rear part of the left side of its frill area and lost the spike there. The frill healed in a deformed asymmetrical manner.

N/A

TMP 88.55.52[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

One of this animal's neck vertebrae exhibited several pathologies. This vertebra had deformed prezygapophyses, a bone spure on its centrum and the rear surface of its end plat Tanke and Rothschild characterized as having a "'moth-eaten' appearance".

N/A

TMP 88.55.90[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

This animal's parietal bar was eroded, possibly due to osteomyelitis.

N/A

TMP 88.55.191[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

This animal had a "healing" fracture in one of its rear right dorsal ribs.

N/A

TMP 89.18.108[3]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Centrosaurus

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Canada

This animal broke one of its fibulae, which healed to form a false joint.

N/A

TMP 89.55.63[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

The neck of one of this specimen's ribs had a "healing" fracture.

N/A

TMP 89.55.125[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

This animal fractured the rear part of its parietal and a false joint formed there.

N/A

TMP 89.55.205[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

One of this specimens left rear dorsal ribs has a false joint.

N/A

TMP 89.55.188[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

The beak of this specimen is missing the rounded notch seen in most Pachyrhinosaurus. According to Tanke and Rothschild, this absence may not necessarily be due to pathology, however.

N/A

TMP 89.55.269[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

The cortex of this animal's postorbital bone was deeply infolded near the animal's forehead.

N/A

TMP 89.55.287[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

The neural spine of one of the vertebrae mid-length down the animal's tail was fractured. The bone around the fractured area was also eroded.

N/A

TMP 89.55.363[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

A vertebra near the base of the tail had a fractured neural spine.

N/A

TMP 89.55.389[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

One of this animal's left rear dorsal ribs was fractured.

N/A

TMP 89.55.464[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

The underside of one of its left dorsal ribs was swollen.

N/A

TMP 89.55.719[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

A bony callus grew at the site of a fractured rib in this specimen.

N/A

TMP 89.55.883[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

This animal had a small, round exostosis on its parietal bone.

N/A

TMP 89.55.899[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

This Pachyrhinosaurus had an unusually shaped nasal boss. Tanke and Rothschild could not confirm that this trait was due to pathological causes.

N/A

TMP 89.55.978[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

This animal had a neck vertebra whose neural arch failed to fuse to its centrum as the animal grew. Further, this vertebra's right prezygapophysis was "misshapen".

N/A

TMP 89.55.1072[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

This animal's right quadrate was cracked and had a pit near the bone's medial condyle.

N/A

TMP 89.55.1085[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

The rear of this animal's parietal is asymmetrical and the third parietal spike is curved upwards instead of outwards.

N/A

TMP 89.55.1091[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

This specimen's epijugal and jugal bore a pit. Tanke and Rothschild could not confirm that this pit was pathological, however.

N/A

TMP 89.55.1234[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

This specimen was afflicted by several pathologies of its skull. One was a "large hole" located in below and in front of the right eye. There was also a short round growth on the left branch of the maxilla and lesions on the left squamosal.

N/A

TMP 89.55.1300[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

This specimen had a bony lump on the underside of one of its rear left dorsal ribs' necks.

N/A

TMP 89.55.1503[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

The horns on the rear edge of the right parietal were larger and curved in a different direction than those on the left side. Tanke and Rothschild suggested that this asymmetry may just be an anatomical idiosyncrasy of this individual animal rather than a pathology.

N/A

TMP 89.55.1541[5]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Pachyrhinosaurus n. sp.

Campanian

Wapiti Formation

Canada

This specimen had a "[s]mall rounded exostosis" on its parietal.

N/A

TMP 90.18.1[3]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Centrosaurus

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Canada

A thin callus of bone formed on one of this specimen's ribs.

N/A

TMP 91.18.18[3]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Centrosaurus

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Canada

This specimen has a lesion on its left squamosal bone.

N/A

TMP 91.18.30[3]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Centrosaurus

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Canada

The far end of one of this specimen's phalanges is covered in pits.

N/A

TMP 91.18.31[3]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Centrosaurus

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Canada

One of this specimens rear dorsal ribs has a callus that formed at the site of a fracture.

N/A

TMP 91.18.77[3]

Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology[4]

Centrosaurus

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Canada

One of this specimen's rear ribs has a large false joint.

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Canada

An isolated ceratopsian neck vertebra with healed fracture.

DMNH D2596

Dalian Museum of Natural History

Psittacosaurus

Aptian

Yixian Formation

China

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JZMP-V-11

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Psittacosaurus

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## Sauropodomorphs

[edit]

Nickname  | Catalogue number  | Institution  | Taxon  | Age  | Unit  | Country  | Notes  | Images

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N/A

DMNH 2908[6]

Denver Museum of Natural History

Camarasaurus grandis[7]

Late Jurassic

Morrison Formation[6]

United States[6]

The right humerus of this animal exhibits a spur-like lesion resulting from the healing process following a "stress injury or repetitive overexertion of the muscles resulting in an avulsion". This spur-like lesion would have caused long term fasciitis and myosistis.[7]

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Bonitasaura salgadoi

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MCS-PV 183

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## Stegosaurs

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Nickname  | Catalogue Number  | Institution  | Taxon  | Age  | Unit  | Country  | Notes  | Images

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N/A

DMNH 2818

Denver Museum of Natural History

Stegosaurus stenops

Late Jurassic

Morrison Formation

United States

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N/A

USNM 6646

US National Museum

Stegosaurus ungulatus

Late Jurassic

Morrison Formation

United States

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## Theropods

[edit]

Main article: Theropod paleopathology

Nickname  | Catalogue Number  | Institution  | Taxon  | Age  | Unit  | Country  | Notes  | Images

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N/A

PVSJ 407

Museo de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de San Juan

Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis

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N/A

USMN 4735

US National Museum

Ceratosaurus nasicornis

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N/A

UCMP 37302

University of California Museum of Paleontology

Dilophosaurus wetherilli

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N/A

IVPP 84019

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Monolophosaurus jiangi

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N/A

USNM 4734

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Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

USNM 8367

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N/A

UUVP 1847

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 2252

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 3435

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 687

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 1848

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 4159

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 1742

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 4895

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 3773

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 5256

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 3811

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 177

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 1849

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 1850

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 837

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 1851

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 1657

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 1528

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 5599

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 1852

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 1853

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 1854

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

UUVP 1855

Utah Museum of Natural History

Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

YPM 4944

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Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

MOR 693

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Allosaurus fragilis

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N/A

MIWG 6348

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Neovenator salerii

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N/A

BMNH R10001

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Neovenator salerii

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N/A

IVPP 10600

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Sinraptor dongi

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N/A

OMNH 8-0-59

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Acrocanthosaurus atokensis

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N/A

SMU 74646

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N/A

SGM-Din 1

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Carcharodontosaurus saharicus

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N/A

YPM 5205

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Deinonychus antirrhopus

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N/A

IGM 100/976

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Velociraptor mongoliensis

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N/A

IGM 100/979

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N/A

ZPALNo.MgD-I/6

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Deinocheirus mirificus

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N/A

TMP 79.8.1

| Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology |

Latenivenatrix mcmasterae

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N/A

ROM 807

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Albertosaurus sarcophagus

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N/A

NMC 8506

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Daspletosaurus torosus

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N/A

NMC 2120

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Gorgosaurus libratus

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N/A

TMP91.36.500

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Gorgosaurus libratus

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N/A

AMNH 5027

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Tyrannosaurus rex

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N/A

LACM 23844

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Tyrannosaurus rex

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N/A

MOR 008

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Tyrannosaurus rex

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Stan

BHI-3033

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Tyrannosaurus rex

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UUVP 2742

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Marshosaurus bicentesimus

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Sue

FMNH PR2081

Field Museum of Natural History

Tyrannosaurus rex

Maastrichtian

Hell Creek Formation

United States

Sue the T. rex, also known as FMNH PR2081, suffered an avulsion that left a divot and hook-shaped bone spur on "her" right humerus.[8] The divot appears to be located at the origin of the deltoid or teres major muscles.[8] Some experts have hypothesized that gout caused the formation of small patches of eroded bone discovered on Sue's first and second metacarpals.[9] Five other pathologies have been documented in Sue; a pathology on each side of its skull, a twisted and discolored tooth, two pathological tail vertebrae in series, and a broken and healed fibula with associated abnormal bone growth.[10]

|  Sue.

## Footnotes

[edit]

1. ^ a b Rega, Holmes, and Tirabasso (2010); "Abstract", page 340.
2. ^ Rega, Holmes, and Tirabasso (2010); "Table 24.1", page 344.
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Tanke and Rothschild (2010); "Table 25.2", page 377.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq Tanke and Rothschild (2010); "Institutional Abbreviations", page 356.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah Tanke and Rothschild (2010); "Table 25.2", page 378.
6. ^ a b c McWhinney, Carpenter, and Rothschild (2001); "Introduction", page 365.
7. ^ a b McWhinney, Carpenter, and Rothschild (2001); "Abstract", page 364.
8. ^ a b Rothschild, et al. (2001); "Discussion", page 334.
9. ^ Molnar (2001); "Tyrannosauridae", pages 344-345.
10. ^ Molnar (2001); "Tyrannosauridae", page 345.

## References

[edit]

* McWhinney, L., Carpenter, K., and Rothschild, B., 2001, Dinosaurian humeral periostitis: a case of a juxtacortical lesion in the fossil record: In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, pp. 364–377
* Molnar, R. E., 2001, Theropod paleopathology: a literature survey, In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, p. 337-363.
* Rega, Elizabeth; Holmes, Robert; Tirabasso, Alex (2010). "Chapter 24: Habitual Locomotor Behavior Inferred from Manual Pathology in Two Late Cretaceous Chasmosaurine Ceratopsid Dinosaurs, Chasmosaurus irvinensis (CMN 41357) and Chasmosaurus belli (ROM 843)". In Ryan, Michael J.; Chinnery-Allgeier, Brenda J.; Eberth, David A. (eds.). New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology Ceratopsian Symposium. Indiana University Press. pp. 340–354. ISBN 978-0253353580.
* Rothschild, B., Tanke, D. H., and Ford, T. L., 2001, Theropod stress fractures and tendon avulsions as a clue to activity, In: Mesozoic Vertebrate Life, edited by Tanke, D. H., and Carpenter, K., Indiana University Press, p. 331-336.
* Tanke, Darren H.; Rothschild, Bruce M. (2010). "Chapter 25: Paleopathologies in Albertan Ceratopsids and Their Behavioral Significance". In Ryan, Michael J.; Chinnery-Allgeier, Brenda J.; Eberth, David A. (eds.). New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology Ceratopsian Symposium. Indiana University Press. pp. 355–384. ISBN 978-0253353580.