Preliminary assessment of bone histology in the extinct elephant bird Aepyornis (Aves, Palaeognathae) from Madagascar

Aepyornis, a giant subfossil ratite from Madagascar, shows a well-preserved bone histology. Hindlimb bones exhibit an extensive histodiversity; the cortex is initially made of fibrolamellar, well-vascularized primary bone that modulates locally into plexiform or laminar patterns. Lines of arrested growth are generally weakly expressed. Haversian reconstruction can be complete. Perimedullar endosteal deposition is variable but can be extensive. The complex causality (phylogenetic, systematic, ontogenetic and functional… factors) involved in the production of the observed data is discussed.