Editorial Type:
Article Category: Other
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Online Publication Date: 01 Mar 2013

Epidemiology of Anuran Pathology in the Holocene Component of the Hiscock Site: Rare or Not Survived

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Page Range: 169 – 173
DOI: 10.1670/11-255
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Abstract

Bone pathology provides a window to environment and predation, allowing confident comparison of fossils and subfossils with their modern descendents. Exclusive of modern contaminated environments, the frequency of bone disease in frogs does not seem to have changed in the Holocene. Injuries were either quite rare or rarely survived. Associated fractures, however, were frequently infected. Infections appear to have been from a chronic granulomatous disease, apparently fungal in origin. The disorders reported in these fossil bones are identical to those recognized in modern frogs, validating comparison of character and frequency of bone pathology through geological time, as has been documented previously for reptiles and mammals.

Copyright: 2013
<sc>Fig. 1. </sc>
Fig. 1. 

Lateral view of E11SW 109. Fused, angulated elbow, with focal taphonomic loss of cortical bone.

<sc>Fig. 2. </sc>
Fig. 2. 

Ventral view of G8SW-182. Fused vertebra with ventral osseous overgrowth.

<sc>Fig. 3. </sc>
Fig. 3. 

Lateral x-ray view of E11SW 109 elbow. Multiple, osteolytic, cystic, spheroid areas of decreased bone density.

<sc>Fig. 4. </sc>
Fig. 4. 

Ventral x-ray view of G8SW-182 vertebrae. Multiple, osteolytic, cystic, spheroid areas of decreased bone density.

<sc>Fig. 5. </sc>
Fig. 5. 

Lateral view of BMS F5SE-162 tibiofibula. Bony excresence identifies osteochondroma (arrow).

<sc>Fig. 6. </sc>
Fig. 6. 

Inferior view of G8SW 508 pygostyle. Expanded tip (arrow).

Contributor Notes

4 Corresponding Author. E-mail: bmr@ku.edu
Accepted: 28 May 2012
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