Triassic Marine Reptile Bone Pathology Evidence for Tuberculosis-like Infection

This dataset contains paleopathological evidence from a Middle Triassic eosauropterygian reptile, suggesting a tuberculosis-like respiratory infection. It is based on high-resolution X-ray microtomography and histological studies of pathologically altered ribs and vertebrae, authored by Dawid Surmik and published in 2020. The specific row and column counts are not provided.

Use Cases

• Analyze periosteal reaction patterns and bleb formations on rib surfaces to model ancient disease pathology.
• Study lines of arrested growth in bone histology to infer the multi-seasonal duration of the documented infection.
• Correlate focal vertebral erosions with rib pathologies to assess evidence for tuberculosis in non-human species.
• Use X-ray microtomography data to create 3D models of bone lesions for comparative anatomical studies.

Strengths

• Data is derived from high-resolution X-ray microtomography (XMT) and histological studies, providing detailed structural evidence.
• The findings represent the earliest identified evidence for pneumonia and a potential case of tuberculosis in the fossil record.
• The dataset is openly licensed under CC0-1.0, facilitating unrestricted reuse.

Limitations

• The dataset is focused on a single specimen ('Proneusticosaurus' silesiacus), limiting statistical analysis.
• Sample data and file formats are unspecified, which may complicate direct data access and processing.
• The interpretation of the pathology as tuberculosis-like is inferential, based on comparative morphology with human cases.

Provenance

Source

Dryad digital repository.

Collection Method

High-resolution X-ray microtomography and histological analysis of fossilized bones.

Time Range

Middle Triassic period (approximately 245 million years ago).

Freshness

Last updated on 2020-06-24.

Geography

Specimen location not specified in input; historically referred to as 'Proneusticosaurus' silesiacus.