Anne Warren

Defining the learning curve for multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the prostate using MRI-transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) fusion-guided transperineal prostate biopsies as a validation tool

To determine the accuracy of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) during the learning curve of radiologists using MRI targeted, transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) guided transperineal fusion biopsy (MTTP) for validation.

A new rhytidosteid (Amphibia, Labyrinthodontia) from the Early Triassic Arcadia Formation of Queensland, Australia, and the relationships of Triassic temnospondyls

ABSTRACT The Early Triassic Arcadia Formation of Queensland, Australia, has yielded a second rhytidosteid labyrinthodont, the description of which allows reevaluation of the Triassic temnospondyls, which are here divided into two groups, trematosaurians and capitosaurians. Characters used in this division are discussed, and an hypothesis of relationships among the families of Triassic temnospondyls is proposed. The superfamily Rhytidosteoidea is rejected. The superfamily Trematosauroidea is increased to two families, the Trematosauridae and the Rhytidosteidae, the members of the family Indobrachyopidae being included in the Rhytidosteidae. The superfamily Brachyopoidea is included as the sister group of the Trematosauroidea within the trematosaurian group. The family Lydekkerinidae shares some trematosaurian group characters but lacks others and thus has been placed with some hesitation in the trematosaurian group. Description of the anatomy of the new rhytidosteid has led to a reexamination of certain as...

A phylogeny of the Brachyopoidea (Temnospondyli, Stereospondyli)

Abstract In the thirty years since the last comprehensive review of the Brachyopidae many new brachyopid genera have been described and several different phylogenies proposed. This paper provides revised diagnoses of the Brachyopidae, their sister taxon, the Chigutisauridae, and the Brachyopoidea, erects a new higher taxon, Brachyopomorpha to include stem brachyopoids, and reviews the status of all material referred at one time to these taxa. In it we present revised illustrations of the first described member of the Brachyopidae and clarify parts of the morphology of it and other members of the Brachyopoidea including especially the mandible and postcranial skeleton. A new genus and species, Vigilius wellesi, is proposed for the skull of Hadrokkosaurus bradyi as the holotype of H. bradyi, a mandible, cannot be positively associated with the skull. A phylogenetic analysis including most taxa and all putative outgroups confirms the Chigutisauridae as sister group to the Brachyopidae, forming the Brachyopoidea. Bothriceps australis becomes a sister taxon to the Brachyopoidea. Xenobrachyops allos and Keratobrachyops australis are the most plesiomorphic members of the Brachyopidae and Chigutisauridae respectively.

Parotosuchus from the Early Triassic of Queensland and Western Australia

Three members of the labyrinthodont Family Capitosauridae are described. Two new species from the Arcadia Formation of the Rewan Group, Queensland, show affinities with more primitive capitosaurs and with pre-capitosaurid groups. A third skull from the Blina Shale of Western Australia is of indeterminate species. These are the first recorded capitosaurs from Queensland and Western Australia and the first Parotosuchus from a Lystrosaurus Zone fauna.

The postcranial skeleton of Mesozoic temnospondyl amphibians: a review

Present knowledge of the postcranial skeleton of temnospondyl labyrinthodonts is reviewed, providing information on what positively assignable material is known. Some differences between the postcrania of the various families of temnospondyls are described, showing that detailed examination of postcranial elements does in fact reveal features which can be used to identify and diagnose Mesozoic families.

THE APPENDICULAR SKELETON OF ERYOPS MEGACEPHALUS COPE, 1877 (TEMNOSPONDYLI: ERYOPOIDEA) FROM THE LOWER PERMIAN OF NORTH AMERICA

Abstract The appendicular skeleton of the Lower Permian temnospondyl Eryops megacephalus Cope, 1877, described and figured in detail, is similar to that of most temnospondyls, except that it is highly ossified. It displays terrestrial adaptations, including a reduced dermal pectoral girdle and comparatively large limbs, characterized by well-developed processes for muscle attachment. While many features that were previously unknown or uncommon among temnospondyls were identified, no apomorphies of the appendicular skeleton particular to Eryops were found. Some characteristics of the endochondral postcranial skeleton found in well-ossified temnospondyls, such as Eryops, are absent in less well ossified temnospondyls due to immaturity or paedomorphism. The effects of heterochronic processes on the morphology of the postcranial skeleton of temnospondyls and the implications for cladistics are discussed; the appendicular skeleton of Eryops is considered hypermorphic. Within the Temnospondyli, the Eryops appendicular skeleton is most similar to that of the Dissorophoidea, and most dissimilar to both the most plesiomorphic temnospondyls and the secondarily aquatic Mesozoic stereospondyls. The appendicular skeletons of well-ossified Late Permian and Mesozoic temnospondyls are not as robust as that of Eryops. Surprisingly, Eryops, in common with other well-ossified temnospondyls, shares many derived features of the appendicular skeleton with seymouriamorphs and diadectomorphs. The presence of these previously unrecognized synapomorphies (relative to stem tetrapods and embolomeres) provides evidence for an alternative hypothesis of relationships of early tetrapods, suggesting that the Temnospondyli and seymouriamorphs plus diadectomorphs are sister taxa.

Karoo tupilakosaurid: a relict from Gondwana

A new temnospondyl, Thabanchuia oomie gen. et sp. nov., is described from three skulls and associated postcranial elements from the Early Triassic Lystrosaurus Zone of South Africa. T. oomie is the best-preserved member of the Tupilakosauridae, a temnospondyl taxon previously known only from disarticulated material from Russia and Greenland, but shown here to include Kourerpeton bradyi , an articulated specimen with no locality data but presumed to be from North America. Tupilakosaurids are the only Mesozoic survivors of the dvinosaurian radiation, the sister group to the archegosaurs of the Permian plus the stereospondyl clade. It is postulated that their occurrence in Russia, Greenland and North America represents a reinvasion from Gondwana, where they survived the Late Permian extinctions along with the stem of the stereospondyl clade. T. oomie is probably immature but, like other members of the dvinosaurian clade, was fully aquatic, had ossified ceratobranchials and most likely an increased number of vertebrae and reduced limbs. Like Tupilakosaurus, T. oomie had diplospondylous centra.

Earliest tetrapod trackway

A probable tetrapod trackway has been discovered in the Grampians Group of western Victoria which has been recently dated as Early Devonian or Silurian. This makes the trackway the earliest known evidence of terrestrial vertebrates.

Folded teeth in temnospondyls — a preliminary study

Temnospondyl amphibians have numerous teeth which are typically internally convoluted. In this paper we look for derived features of the distribution of both cranial and mandibular teeth and also examine the extent of their convolution. We show that some features of the distribution and convolution are family linked. Overall, the degree of complexity as shown by the number of infolds and infold bends, increases with the size of the dental element. Bending of infolds appears to be more frequent within the superfamily Capitosauroidea, while among the trematosaurian group of temnospondyls bending is less pronounced, with two families, the Plagiosauridae and Rhytidosteidae, showing no bends in marginal teeth and only minimal bending in the largest rhytidosteid tusks.

A REDESCRIPTION AND REINTERPRETATION OF GYRACANTHIDES MURRAYI WOODWARD 1906 (ACANTHODII, GYRACANTHIDAE) FROM THE LOWER CARBONIFEROUS OF THE MANSFIELD BASIN, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA

Abstract The articulated acanthodian Gyracanthides murrayi Woodward from the Lower Carboniferous of Mansfield, Victoria, Australia, is redescribed from original and newly aquired material. It includes the only known head region from a member of the Gyracanthidae. A new reconstruction and interpretation of the pectoral area are proposed, incorporating the elements from the original description as well as a new bone interpreted as a procoracoid attached to a prepectoral spine. The posterior free pectoral spine described by Woodward is reinterpreted as a scapulocoracoid. A subsequent reconstruction of the pectoral girdle which synonymised the anterior and posterior prepectoral spines is rejected. A clear difference in size and shape of the pectoral and pelvic fin spines is established. The morphology of the tubercular ornament of the paired fin spines is used to distinguish species of Gyracanthides. Gyracanthides murrayi had a covering of dermal polyodontodia with spinose crowns and a concave base with a central vascular canal opening. The systematic position of the Gyracanthidae remains unclear, with the family retained within the Climatiiformes only on the basis of the broad-based, fin spines with nodose ornament.