Papers and Beyond

Staurikosaurus headlines a chapter in an older edition of the book The Dinosauria. This chapter has been replaced in newer editions of the book, but the importance of Staurikosaurus and the many papers discussing the anatomy and the phylogeny of Staurikosaurus remain in the newly re-designated chapters. These include the papers that initially described the holotype fossil (Colbert 1970) and estimates of missing elements of the skeleton (Grillo and Azevedo, 2011b) as well as those that ask questions about the origin of saurischian dinosaurs and Staurikosaurus' placement in this discussion (e.g. Galton, 2000). Staurikosaurus continues to be studied beyond the skeleton and its phylogenetic importance to the evolution of dinosaurs also. Grillo and Azevedo (2011a) studied the pelvis and hindlimb to describe the state of the musculature in these areas. These papers should be plenty for a day's reading, so enjoy learning more about the anatomy of Staurikosaurus and where this dinosaur sits in the dinosaur family tree!

References:
Colbert, E.H., Price, L.I. and White, T.E., 1970. A saurischian dinosaur from the Triassic of Brazil. American Museum novitates; no. 2405.

Galton, P.M., 2000. Are Spondylosoma and Staurikosaurus (Santa Maria Formation, Middle-Upper Triassic, Brazil) the oldest saurischian dinosaurs?. PalZ, 74(3), pp.393-423.

 

Bittencourt, J.D.S. and Kellner, A.W.A., 2009. The anatomy and phylogenetic position of the Triassic dinosaur Staurikosaurus pricei Colbert, 1970. Zootaxa, 2079(1), p.e56.

 

Grillo, O.N. and Azevedo, S.A., 2011. Pelvic and hind limb musculature of Staurikosaurus pricei (Dinosauria: Saurischia). Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências, 83(1), pp.73-98.

 

Grillo, O.N. and Azevedo, S.A., 2011. Recovering missing data: estimating position and size of caudal vertebrae in Staurikosaurus pricei Colbert, 1970. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências, 83(1), pp.61-72.