Rarity of congenital malformation and deformity in the fossil record of vertebrates - A non-human perspective.

OBJECTIVE: A malformed pectoral joint of the middle Devonian antiarch fish Asterolepis ornata is described, and a survey of congenital malformations in the fossil record is provided.

MATERIALS: The specimen of A. ornata (MB.f.73) from Ehrman in Latvia, stored at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germany.

METHODS: A. ornata was macroscopically and radiologically investigated, and the overview on congenital malformation was based on an extensive literature survey.

RESULTS: In the deformed joint of A. ornata, the articular surfaces and muscle attachment sites are greatly reduced, indicating restricted mobility. Congenital malformations can be found since the middle Silurian and affect all groups of vertebrates, but they are rare. Teeth and the vertebral column are the most commonly affected anatomical regions, and the mechanisms causing these malformations probably remained the same through geological time.

CONCLUSIONS: Micro-CT of the deformed joint shows no disturbance of the normal trabecular pattern and no evidence of trauma or disease, suggesting a congenital hypoplasia, although an acquired deformity cannot be ruled out completely.

SIGNIFICANCE: Congenital malformations, even those that are rare, were part of the common history of vertebrates for more than 400 million years.

LIMITATIONS: Epidemiologic measures like incidence and prevalence usually cannot be applied to define rare diseases in the fossil record.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH: A broadly based analysis of species of fossil vertebrates with numerus recovered specimens (e.g. many bony fishes, amphibians, certain dinosaurs) might statistically affirm the occurrence of malformations and possible correlations with the paleoenvironment.