@article{TEXTUAL,
      recid = {10657},
      author = {Sereno, Paul C. and Wilson, Jeffrey A. and Witmer,  Lawrence M. and Whitlock, John A. and Maga, Abdoulaye and  Ide, Oumarou and Rowe, Timothy A.},
      title = {Structural Extremes in a Cretaceous Dinosaur},
      journal = {PLOS ONE},
      address = {2007-11-21},
      number = {TEXTUAL},
      abstract = {&lt;p&gt;Fossils of the Early Cretaceous dinosaur,  &lt;em&gt;Nigersaurus taqueti&lt;/em&gt;, document for the first time  the cranial anatomy of a rebbachisaurid sauropod. Its  extreme adaptations for herbivory at ground-level challenge  current hypotheses regarding feeding function and feeding  strategy among diplodocoids, the larger clade of sauropods  that includes &lt;em&gt;Nigersaurus&lt;/em&gt;. We used high resolution  computed tomography, stereolithography, and standard  molding and casting techniques to reassemble the extremely  fragile skull. Computed tomography also allowed us to  render the first endocast for a sauropod preserving  portions of the olfactory bulbs, cerebrum and inner ear,  the latter permitting us to establish habitual head  posture. To elucidate evidence of tooth wear and tooth  replacement rate, we used photographic-casting techniques  and crown thin sections, respectively. To reconstruct its  9-meter postcranial skeleton, we combined and size-adjusted  multiple partial skeletons. Finally, we used maximum  parsimony algorithms on character data to obtain the best  estimate of phylogenetic relationships among diplodocoid  sauropods. &lt;em&gt;Nigersaurus taqueti&lt;/em&gt; shows extreme  adaptations for a dinosaurian herbivore including a skull  of extremely light construction, tooth batteries located at  the distal end of the jaws, tooth replacement as fast as  one per month, an expanded muzzle that faces directly  toward the ground, and hollow presacral vertebral centra  with more air sac space than bone by volume. A cranial  endocast provides the first reasonably complete view of a  sauropod brain including its small olfactory bulbs and  cerebrum. Skeletal and dental evidence suggests that  &lt;em&gt;Nigersaurus&lt;/em&gt; was a ground-level herbivore that  gathered and sliced relatively soft vegetation, the  culmination of a low-browsing feeding strategy first  established among diplodocoids during the Jurassic.&lt;/p&gt;},
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/10657},
}