PRESS RELEASE

Oldest evidence of arthritis is discovered in a 245 million year old reptile

Signs of a serious osseous disease that affected the vertebral column of a reptile from the Triassic
Period were discovered by an international team of scientists* leaded by the palaeontologist Juan
Carlos Cisneros at the Federal University of Piauí, in Teresina, Brazil. The study showing the
results of this research will be published at the journal PloS ONE, its contents will be freely
available at: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0013425 (the link will be functional from
Thursday, October 14th).
The animal bearing this pathology was a primitive archosaurian, a carnivorous reptile that
measured 4,5 m long and lived in the Triassic Period, 245 million years ago, much before the
appearance of the first dinosaurs. Its remains were found in the Karoo semi-desert of South Africa.
An anomaly was observed in three vertebrae of the caudal region of this animal, in the shape
of a large osseous protuberance. In order to provide an accurate diagnosis for this pathology,
neutron tomography, a technique that allows easy visualization through high density materials such
as fossils, was performed in the vertebrae. The neutron tomography was done in a nuclear reactor of
the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (NECSA) in Pretoria, by the physicist Frikkie de
Beer.
The image analysis, performed in Brazil, revealed that the fossil is affected by spondarthritis
(also known as spondyloarthritis), i.e., arthritis of the spine. This is by far the oldest evidence of
arthritis in a living being. The previous earliest case of arthritis was found in a dinosaur from the
Jurassic of southern USA. The new discovery is 100 million years older. The presence of this
disease brought serious consequences to the locomotion of this reptile and should have indirectly
contributed to its death.

The press embargo ends at 2 p.m. Pacific Time (5 p.m. Eastern) on Thursday, October 14th

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Juan Carlos Cisneros

Centro de Ciências da Natureza
Universidade Federal do Piauí
Teresina, PI, Brazil
e-mail: juan.cisneros@ufpi.edu.br
Tel: (86) 3237-2014
Cel: (86) 9963-0847

MSc. Uiara Gomes Cabral

Departamento de Geologia e Paleontologia
Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, RJ
e-mail: uiara.gomes@gmail.com

*Juan Carlos Cisneros/UFPI, Teresina, Brazil; Uiara Gomes Cabral/UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Frikkie de
Beer/NECSA, Pretoria, South Africa; Ross Damiani/Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Germany; &
Daniel Costa Fortier/UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
External view of three fossil vertebrae bearing spondarthritis

Neutron tomography of the vertebrae

Digital section of the vertebrae based on neutron images

A 4,5 m long primitive archosaurian

Higher resolution images are available, under request.