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http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/10130

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Browsing ICR4-Vários by Field of Science and Technology (FOS) "Ciências Naturais::Ciências Biológicas"

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  • On the identity of the elusive pantherine from the Algar da Manga Larga, Portugal: a computed tomographic study of inner cranial cavities
    Publication . Estraviz-López, Dario; Jiangzuo, Q.; Madurell-Malapeira, J.; Cardoso, João Luis; Rios, M.; Grandal-d'Anglade, A.
    The pantherine partial skeleton from the Algar da Manga Larga (MG1355.0001-9), was discovered at the Natural Park of Serras d´Aire e Candeeiros and published in 2006. It comprises a nearly complete cranium and mandible, a damaged distal half of right humerus, a complete left metacarpal III, proximal epiphyses of left metacarpals II and IV and three damaged cervical vertebrae. The nearly pristine conservation of the skull makes it a perfect candidate for the virtual reconstruction of the cranial cavities. Both cranium and hemimandibles were scanned through a medical CT-scan. The resulting data was segmented with the help of the software 3DSlicer 5.6.1 in order to virtually extract the endocast (cerebrum + cerebellum + brain stem). This was a time-consuming process due to the clay adhered to the inner walls of the cranium, which obscured the real volume of the cranial cavity, as well as the collapsed bone in some areas of the interior of the cranium. The resulting endocast of the leopard of Manga Larga has been preliminary morphologically compared with the endocast of a modern African leopard, revealing some interesting differences in the overall structure. The Manga Larga specimen presents a dorso-ventral torsion of the telencephalon relative to the brain stem, while the modern African leopard presents a more antero-posteriorly straight brain cavity, revealing also a relatively more ventral position of the foramen magnum in the specimen from Manga Larga. Further work on this specimen is necessary to clarify the implications of these differences, including the virtual reconstruction of the frontal sinuses, the study of the cranial and postcranial skeleton with both traditional and geometric morphometrics and the use molecular techniques to clarify its age and details about its ecology.
    2024-10-28Conference object Open Access Show more