Abstract
All known species of the Triassic archosauromorph genus Tanystropheus are known to have had the longest neck in proportion to their torso. This feature is related to a series of ventilatory challenges since an increase in neck length also increases airway length and, therefore, the volume of stagnant air that does not reach the lungs, the dead space volume. Based on this challenge, the objective of the present study was to model the type of respiratory system of Tanystropheus able to meet its metabolic demands during the early Triassic period. The modeling was based on allometric relations for morphological and physiological ventilatory and metabolic variables, and to do so, the mean body mass of Tanystropheus was estimated based on three different methods. In addition, the tracheal airflow was also estimated based on the proportions of Tanystropheus elongated neck, the results of allometric modeling, and fundamental equations of fluid mechanics. The estimation of the body mass indicated that an animal of 3.6 m would possess a body mass of 50.6 ± 21.6 kg. Allometric modeling suggested that the respiratory system best suited to Tanystropheus’ oxygen demands, especially during activity, would be a generic reptilian-like respiratory system composed of multicameral lungs. The best respiratory pattern to maintain adequate tracheal flow rates and effective pulmonary ventilation would be one ventilating the relatively narrower trachea at lower frequencies to deal with tracheal dead space volume.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Dr. Christian Klug from the Paleontological Museum of the University of Zürich for providing the photographs of the Tanystropheus specimen used as our model and Dra. Silvana Giuliatti from the University of São Paulo for helping us understand some physical principles regarding our study. We also would like to thank the three reviewers for carefully reading and improving our work with their suggestions.
Funding
WK received funding from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq; process no. 308249/2019–4) and RBBS was supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP; process no. 2018/21117–7).
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Communicated by: Robert R Reisz
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de Souza, R.B.B., Klein, W. Modeling of the respiratory system of the long-necked Triassic reptile Tanystropheus (Archosauromorpha). Sci Nat 109, 55 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-022-01824-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-022-01824-7