Notary

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Axial skeleton of the pterosaur Pteranodon with the notary visible in the center of the picture above the rib cage (partially covered by the left shoulder bone)

The notarium is a bony rod made up of a group of fused thoracic vertebrae . This structure is different for different groups of birds and for some pterosaurs characteristic (Pterosauria). The technical term consists of the Greek not - or noto - (back, surface) and the Latin arium (storage place or container and its contents).

The notary serves to stabilize the trunk spine in order to oppose the forces that occur when the wings flap with a trunk that is as rigid as possible. In birds, the notary consists of 2 to 6 thoracic vertebrae and is usually separated from the sacrum by up to four free, non-fused thoracic vertebrae . In some genera, such as some pigeons and cocktails, it articulates directly with the sacrum, with free thoracic vertebrae completely absent. The notary is very pronounced in the pterosaur Pteranodon , in which the first 8 vertebrae are fused together.

The notarium occurs in different groups of birds, so with the cockles (Tinamidae), the grebes (Podicipedidae), the cormorants (Phalacrocoracidae), the ibises and spoonbills (Threskiornithidae), the flamingos (Phoenicopteridae), the falcon-like (Falconidae), the gallinaceous birds (Galliformes), the cranes (Gruidae), the Ralle cranes (Aramidae), the trumpet player birds (Psophiidae), the Kagus (Rhynochetidae), the sunbittern (Eurypygidae), the mesite (Mesitornithidae), the flight chickens (Pteroclididae), the pigeon (Columbidae), the hoatzin ( Opisthocomus ) and the fat swallow ( Steatornis ).

A notary can also be found in the case of derived representatives of the short-tailed pterosaurs (Pterodactyloidea), but is missing in the basal (original) representatives of this group and in all basal, long-tailed pterosaurs.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Robert W. Storer: Fused Thoracic Vertebrae in Birds: Their Occurrence and Possible Significance . In: J. Yamashina Inst. Ornith. tape 14 , 1982, pp. 86-95 .
  2. ^ Ulrich Lehmann: Paleontological Dictionary . 4th edition. Ferdinand Enke Verlag, Stuttgart 1996, p. 150 .
  3. ^ A b P. Wellnhofer, E. Buffetaut, P. Gigase: A pterosaurian notarium from the Lower Cretaceous of Brazil . In: Paleontological Journal . tape 57 , no. 1 , 1983, p. 147-157 .
  4. ↑ AWA Kellner: New information on the Tapejaridae (Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea) and discussion of the relationships of this clade . In: Ameghiniana . tape 41 , no. 4 , 2004, p. 521-534 .