Lesions on a lumbar vertebra of Equidae (Perissodactyla) from Late Pleistocene of Brazil

Abstract

We identified two bone alterations: a bone overgrowth on the margin of the anterior vertebral endplate, and an articular defect on the posterior vertebral endplate in a lumbar vertebra of Hippidion (attribution based both on size and spatial association with isolated teeth unquestionably from the Late Pleistocene of northeastern Brazil). The alterations are assigned to spondylosis deformans and a linear defect, respectively. Both alterations are formally described for the first time in the fossil record of the South American mammals.