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Today is the abstract submission deadline for #SVPCA. What should I submit?
(See posts in subsequent thread for a bit more detail on each.)
Details on possible SVPCA talks, #1
CARNEGIE DIPLODOCUS: THE UNTOLD STORY
The millionaire industrialist Andrew Carnegie had casts of Diplodocus mounted in nine cities around the world (1905–1930). But what actually IS the skeleton? In 1907 it was a complex composite of real bone from three specimens and casts/sculpts from six more. Second-generation moulds made from a concrete cast in 1989 have yielded yet more casts that turn up in unexpected places, including parts of the AMNH Barosaurus.
Details on possible SVPCA talks, #2
WHAT, IF ANYTHING, IS A SHOULDER?
We talk blithely of cervical and dorsal (neck and torso) vertebrae, but how can we determine the type of a given vertebra around the junction?
Proposed criteria include:
* Fusion of ribs to the vertebra
* Shape of ventral centrum
* Facets to support the scapula
* Vertical location of parapophyses
* Gene expression
* Contact with the sternum
How can we reconcile these criteria, and how do they affect ideas of neck length?
Details on possible SVPCA talks, #3
WHICH WAY IS UP FOR A VERTEBRA?
In describing vertebrae, we often refer to the "horizontal" and "vertical" but these only apply in the context of a specific orientation. How should we orient individual vertebrae for descriptive & comparative purposes?
We propose four criteria
1. Long axis of centrum is horizontal.
2. Articular surfaces of centrum are vertical.
3. Neural canal is horizontal.
4. Similarity in articulation
Each is flawed, but we recommend #3.
@mike@sauropods.winDetails on possible SVPCA talks, #4
HOW DID THE AIR GET INTO PNEUMATIC VERTEBRAE?
In animals with air-filled vertebrae (birds, pterosaurs, dinosaurs), air reaches the bones through diverticula — tubes connected to the lungs and air-sacs. But how do the diverticula find their way?
In extant amniotes, seven groups of blood vessels penetrate vertebrae in distinctive locations. Pneumatic features are found in all seven locations in sauropod vertebrae.
So the diverticula followed blood-vessels
That's it, that's the options I could fit into the poll. Please vote for the one you'd be more interested to hear more about. And feel free to comment on any of the individual candidate.
Oh, and please boost the original post (the one with the poll) for visibility.
ENDS.