Spondarthritis in the triassic.

BACKGROUND: The evidence of several forms of arthritis has been well documented in the fossil record. However, for pre-Cenozoic vertebrates, especially regarding reptiles, this record is rather scarce. In this work we present a case report of spondarthritis found in a vertebral series that belonged to a carnivorous archosaurian reptile from the Lower Triassic (∼245 million years old) of the South African Karoo. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Neutron tomography confirmed macroscopic data, revealing the ossification of the entire intervertebral disc space (both annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus), which supports the diagnosis of spondarthritis. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The presence of spondarthritis in the new specimen represents by far the earliest evidence of any form of arthritis in the fossil record. The present find is nearly 100 million years older than the previous oldest report of this pathology, based on a Late Jurassic dinosaur. Spondarthritis may have indirectly contributed to the death of the animal under study.

A procolophonoid reptile with temporal fenestration from the Middle Triassic of Brazil.

The small tetrapod Candelaria barbouri, from the Middle Triassic of southern Brazil, is the first example of an owenettid procolophonoid outside Africa and Madagascar. Candelaria barbouri was originally described as a primitive procolophonid; however, a re-examination of the holotype, as well as new material, reveals that C. barbouri is in fact the youngest member of the Owenettidae, extending the chronological range of the group by more than 10 million years. The recognition of C. barbouri as an owenettid points to a broader diversity and distribution for owenettids than hitherto thought. In addition, C. barbouri is the first member of the Owenettidae to exhibit temporal fenestrae, a discovery that draws attention to the significance of this feature in 'anapsid' reptiles.