Bone lesions in a Late Pleistocene assemblage of the insular deer Candiacervus sp.II from Liko cave (Crete, Greece)

George A Lyras; Aggeliki Giannakopoulou; Theodoros Lillis; Alexander Veis; Georgios C Papadopoulos

doi:10.1016/j.ijpp.2016.04.004

Bone lesions in a Late Pleistocene assemblage of the insular deer Candiacervus sp.II from Liko cave (Crete, Greece)

Int J Paleopathol. 2016 Sep:14:36-45. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpp.2016.04.004. Epub 2016 May 9.

Authors

George A Lyras¹, Aggeliki Giannakopoulou², Theodoros Lillis³, Alexander Veis³, Georgios C Papadopoulos²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Historical Geology and Palaeontology, Faculty of Geology and Geoenvironment, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15784 Zografos, Greece. Electronic address: glyras@geol.uoa.gr.
² Laboratory of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Department of Structure and Function of Living Organisms, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece.
³ Department of Dentoalveolar Surgery, Implant Surgery and Radiology, Aristotle University Dental School, Thessaloniki, Greece.

PMID: 29539527
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpp.2016.04.004

Abstract

Candiacervus sp.II is one of the deer species that inhabited the island of Crete during the Late Pleistocene. The species evolved on the island under a prolonged period of isolation and, as a consequence, developed a high degree of endemism. Fossils of this species have been discovered at many Cretan sites, including Liko cave (an attritional accumulation of several thousand fossils). In this paper, we present the results of a systematic analysis of the prevalence and anatomical distribution of bone lesions of Candiacervus sp.II, from that cave. We identified one metapodial with a healed fracture and nine (various) specimens with moderate to severe degenerative lesions of osteoarthritis. The lesions were evaluated macroscopically and radiographically, and they were classified as traumatic or degenerative. Degenerative lesions that affected adult individuals had prevalence rates below 5% and were attributed to environmental or nutritional causes. Representative bones were sampled for histological evaluation, to provide essential baseline data on possible underlying disorders. The aims of this study are to provide evidence for bone disease contributing to species morbidity, and to shed new light on causes and potential palaeoecological significance.

Keywords: Fossils; Fracture; Insularity; Osteoarthritis; Palaeohistology; Ungulate.