List of pathological dinosaur specimens explained

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

Ceratopsians

NicknameCatalogue NumberInstitutionTaxonAgeUnitCountryNotesImages
N/ACMN 41357Canadian Museum of NatureVagaceratops irvinensisCampanianDinosaur Park FormationCanadaA 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.
N/AROM 843Royal Ontario MuseumChasmosaurus belliCanadaThe 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/ATMP 79.11.9Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyCentrosaurusCanadaAn unidentifiable skull bone from this specimen seems to have been "[d]iseased".
N/ATMP 82.18.227Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyCentrosaurusCanadaA round exostosis formed on the shaft of this specimen's ulna.
N/ATMP 85.112.39Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaOne of the rearward left dorsal ribs has a false joint.
N/ATMP 85.112.52Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThis animal seems to have broken the shaft of one of its middle ribs and a bony callus formed there.
N/ATMP 85.112.70Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThis specimen developed a stress fracture in one of its phalanges.
N/ATMP 85.112.86Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaOne of this specimen's ribs had a false joint.
N/ATMP 86.55.111Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaA 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/ATMP 86.55.304Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThe 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/ATMP 87.18.27Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyCentrosaurusCanadaOne of this specimen's vertebrae is deformed.
N/ATMP 87.55.90Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaOne of this animal's rear right dorsal ribs was broken twice. One of the fractures formed a false joint.
N/ATMP 87.55.101Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThe 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/ATMP 87.55.102Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaFour of the vertebrae near the tip of this animal's tail fused together.
N/ATMP 87.55.190Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThis animal had two oval-shaped lesions on its left shoulder blade.
N/ATMP 87.55.210Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThis 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/ATMP 88.55.52Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaOne 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/ATMP 88.55.90Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThis animal's parietal bar was eroded, possibly due to osteomyelitis.
N/ATMP 88.55.191Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThis animal had a "healing" fracture in one of its rear right dorsal ribs.
N/ATMP 89.18.108Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyCentrosaurusCanadaThis animal broke one of its fibulae, which healed to form a false joint.
N/ATMP 89.55.63Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThe neck of one of this specimen's ribs had a "healing" fracture.
N/ATMP 89.55.125Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThis animal fractured the rear part of its parietal and a false joint formed there.
N/ATMP 89.55.205Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaOne of this specimens left rear dorsal ribs has a false joint.
N/ATMP 89.55.188Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThe 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/ATMP 89.55.269Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThe cortex of this animal's postorbital bone was deeply infolded near the animal's forehead.
N/ATMP 89.55.287Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThe 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/ATMP 89.55.363Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaA vertebra near the base of the tail had a fractured neural spine.
N/ATMP 89.55.389Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaOne of this animal's left rear dorsal ribs was fractured.
N/ATMP 89.55.464Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThe underside of one of its left dorsal ribs was swollen.
N/ATMP 89.55.719Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaA bony callus grew at the site of a fractured rib in this specimen.
N/ATMP 89.55.883Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThis animal had a small, round exostosis on its parietal bone.
N/ATMP 89.55.899Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThis Pachyrhinosaurus had an unusually shaped nasal boss. Tanke and Rothschild could not confirm that this trait was due to pathological causes.
N/ATMP 89.55.978Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThis 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/ATMP 89.55.1072Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThis animal's right quadrate was cracked and had a pit near the bone's medial condyle.
N/ATMP 89.55.1085Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThe rear of this animal's parietal is asymmetrical and the third parietal spike is curved upwards instead of outwards.
N/ATMP 89.55.1091Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThis specimen's epijugal and jugal bore a pit. Tanke and Rothschild could not confirm that this pit was pathological, however.
N/ATMP 89.55.1234Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThis 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/ATMP 89.55.1300Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThis specimen had a bony lump on the underside of one of its rear left dorsal ribs' necks.
N/ATMP 89.55.1503Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThe 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/ATMP 89.55.1541Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyPachyrhinosaurus n. sp.CampanianWapiti FormationCanadaThis specimen had a "[s]mall rounded exostosis" on its parietal.
N/ATMP 90.18.1Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyCentrosaurusCanadaA thin callus of bone formed on one of this specimen's ribs.
N/ATMP 91.18.18Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyCentrosaurusCanadaThis specimen has a lesion on its left squamosal bone.
N/ATMP 91.18.30Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyCentrosaurusCanadaThe far end of one of this specimen's phalanges is covered in pits.
N/ATMP 91.18.31Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyCentrosaurusCanadaOne of this specimens rear dorsal ribs has a callus that formed at the site of a fracture.
N/ATMP 91.18.77Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyCentrosaurusCanadaOne of this specimen's rear ribs has a large false joint.
CanadaAn isolated ceratopsian neck vertebra with healed fracture.
DMNH D2596Dalian Museum of Natural HistoryPsittacosaurusAptianYixian FormationChina
JZMP-V-11Psittacosaurus

Sauropodomorphs

NicknameCatalogue numberInstitutionTaxonAgeUnitCountryNotesImages
N/ADMNH 2908Denver Museum of Natural HistoryCamarasaurus grandisLate JurassicMorrison FormationUnited StatesThe 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.
Bonitasaura salgadoi
MCS-PV 183

Stegosaurs

NicknameCatalogue NumberInstitutionTaxonAgeUnitCountryNotesImages
N/ADMNH 2818Denver Museum of Natural HistoryStegosaurus stenopsLate JurassicMorrison FormationUnited States
N/AUSNM 6646US National MuseumStegosaurus ungulatusLate JurassicMorrison FormationUnited States

Theropods

See main article: article and Theropod paleopathology.

NicknameCatalogue NumberInstitutionTaxonAgeUnitCountryNotesImages
N/APVSJ 407Museo de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de San JuanHerrerasaurus ischigualastensis
N/AUSMN 4735US National MuseumCeratosaurus nasicornis
N/AUCMP 37302University of California Museum of PaleontologyDilophosaurus wetherilli
N/AIVPP 84019Monolophosaurus jiangi
N/AUSNM 4734Allosaurus fragilis
N/AUSNM 8367
N/AUUVP 1847Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 2252Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 3435Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 687Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 1848Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 4159Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 1742Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 4895Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 3773Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 5256Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 3811Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 177Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 1849Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 1850Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 837Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 1851Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 1657Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 1528Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 5599Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 1852Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 1853Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 1854Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AUUVP 1855Utah Museum of Natural HistoryAllosaurus fragilis
N/AYPM 4944Allosaurus fragilis
N/AMOR 693Allosaurus fragilis
N/AMIWG 6348Neovenator salerii
N/ABMNH R10001Neovenator salerii
N/AIVPP 10600Sinraptor dongi
N/AOMNH 8-0-59Acrocanthosaurus atokensis
N/ASMU 74646
N/ASGM-Din 1Carcharodontosaurus saharicus
N/AYPM 5205Deinonychus antirrhopus
N/AIGM 100/976Velociraptor mongoliensis
N/AIGM 100/979
N/AZPALNo.MgD-I/6Deinocheirus mirificus
N/ATMP 79.8.1Royal Tyrrell Museum of PaleontologyLatenivenatrix mcmasterae
N/AROM 807Albertosaurus sarcophagus
N/ANMC 8506Daspletosaurus torosus
N/ANMC 2120Gorgosaurus libratus
N/ATMP91.36.500Gorgosaurus libratus
N/AAMNH 5027Tyrannosaurus rex
N/ALACM 23844Tyrannosaurus rex
N/AMOR 008Tyrannosaurus rex
StanBHI-3033Tyrannosaurus rex
UUVP 2742Marshosaurus bicentesimus
SueFMNH PR2081Field Museum of Natural HistoryTyrannosaurus rexMaastrichtianHell Creek FormationUnited StatesSue the T. rex, also known as FMNH PR2081, suffered an avulsion that left a divot and hook-shaped bone spur on "her" right humerus. The divot appears to be located at the origin of the deltoid or teres major muscles. Some experts have hypothesized that gout caused the formation of small patches of eroded bone discovered on Sue's first and second metacarpals. 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.

References