<正>Epaxial tendons play an important role in the study of the musculoskeletal system and locomotory style of dinosaurs.Although the ossified epaxial tendon lattice is fairly well known in Iguanodontoidea,only recently has knowledge of this complex been extended to ceratopsians.This study concerns the gross morphology and microstructure of the tendon lattice in Psittacosaurus,a basal ceratopsian.As in the neoceratopsian Chasmosaurus,the ossified tendons of Psittacosaurus form a three-layered, lattice-like structure.The microstructure of the tendons in large psittacosaur individuals retains an early stage of ossification,as in juvenile birds and nestling hadrosaurs,suggesting a slow developmental rate of ossification of the tendons in psittacosaur ontogeny.Comparative study indicates that a lattice-like arrangement of three-layered epaxial tendons is widely distributed in Cerapoda.This pattern also extends to Ankylosauria,implying a similar pattern of the epaxial muscles through the ornithischian clade.In addition,comparison with crocodiles implies that the different morphology of ossified tendons in dinosaurs may be associated with adaptive aspects of their paleobiology,not simply a side effect of skeletal ossification.In contrast to the short tendons in quadrupedal Chasmosaurus and Protoceratops,the elongated tendons in Psittacosaurus may be related to the bipedal locomotion characteristic of this taxon. 相似文献
Seasonal variations of phytoplankton/chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) distribution, sea surface wind, sea height anomaly, sea surface temperature and other oceanic environments for long periods are analyzed in the South China Sea (SCS), especially in the two typical regions off the east coast of Vietnam and off the northwest coast of Luzon, using remote sensing data and other oceanographic data. The results show that seasonal and spatial distributions of phytoplankton biomass in the SCS are primarily influenced by the monsoon winds and oceanic environments. Off the east coast of Vietnam, Chl-a concentration is a peak in August, a jet shape extending into the interior SCS, which is associated with strong southwesterly monsoon winds, the coastal upwetling induced by offshore Ekman transport and the strong offshore current in the western SCS. In December, high Chl-a concentration appears in the upwelling region off the northwest coast of Luzon and spreads southwestward. Strong mixing by the strong northeasterly monsoon winds, the cyclonic circulation, southwestward coastal currents and river discharge have impacts on distribution of phytoplankton, so that the high phytoplankton biomass extends from the coastal areas over the northern SCS to the entire SCS in winter. These research activities could be important for revealing spatial and temporal patterns of phytoplankton and their interactions with physical environments in the SCS. 相似文献