Editing Mussaurus (section)

===Growth===
[[File:Mussaurus specimens.png|250px|thumb|right|Mussaurus specimens. (a,b) hatchling, (c) yearling, (d) adult. Scale bars represent 5 cm (a), (b) 15 cm (c) and 100 cm (d). To better show isolated bones in (c), we used specimen PVL 4587, of the same ontogenetic age as MPM 1813 (except for the ilium, which belongs to MPM 1813). ]]
A study published in May 2019 shows that in its first year of life, during which it weighed {{convert|6.5|-|10.2|kg|lb}}, ''M. patagonicus'' probably a was [[quadrupedalism|quadruped]], walking on all four limbs. Changes in the relative proportions of its body during growth ([[ontogeny]]) may have caused its [[centre of mass]] to move backwards towards its [[pelvis]], resulting in the animal adopting a two-legged ([[bipedalism|bipedal]]) stance later in life. Adult ''Mussaurus'' had a tail length of {{convert|3.13|m|ft}} and weighed up to {{convert|1.2|-|1.6|MT|ST}}, significantly larger than subadults which weighed about {{convert|106.2|-|557|kg|lb}}.<ref name=OCAS19>{{cite journal |last1=Otero |first1=Alejandro |last2=Cuff |first2=Andrew R. |last3=Allen |first3=Vivian |last4=Sumner-Rooney |first4=Lauren |last5=Pol |first5=Diego |last6=Hutchinson |first6=John R. |title=Ontogenetic changes in the body plan of the sauropodomorph dinosaur ''Mussaurus patagonicus'' reveal shifts of locomotor stance during growth |journal=Scientific Reports |publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC |volume=9 |issue=1 |date=2019-05-20 |issn=2045-2322 |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-44037-1 |page= 7614|pmid=31110190 |pmc=6527699|bibcode=2019NatSR...9.7614O }} [https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41598-019-44037-1/MediaObjects/41598_2019_44037_MOESM1_ESM.pdf Supplementary Information]</ref><ref name=Pol21/> Individuals of such size would have measured up to {{convert|8|m|ft}} in total body length.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Paul|first=Gregory S.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/985402380|title=The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs|year=2016|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-78684-190-2|oclc=985402380|pages=192}}</ref> It is estimated that ''Mussaurus'' would have been sexually mature at 23 to 31 years of age, and reached somatic maturity after 14 years.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Ignacio A. Cerda, Diego Pol, Alejandro Otero & Anusuya Chinsamy|year=2022|title=Palaeobiology of the early sauropodomorph Mussaurus patagonicus inferred from its long bone histology|journal=Palaeontology|volume=65|issue=4|at=e12614|doi=10.1111/pala.12614|s2cid=251181122 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2022Palgy..6512614C }}</ref>