Functional anatomy
Skeletal reconstruction, musculature, and mass. Putting extinct animals back together.
Before we can ask how an extinct animal moved, breathed, or kept itself warm, it has to be put back together. Much of my work starts there: articulating skeletons, reconstructing soft tissue, estimating mass and its distribution, and testing how alternative reconstructions change the answers downstream.
That work has ranged from sauropod osteology (Supersaurus) and the effect of shoulder-girdle placement on sauropod head height, to the mass properties and turning performance of tyrannosaurids (Snively et al. 2019), to the body outline of Anchiornis revealed by laser-stimulated fluorescence (Wang et al. 2017).
Rigorous skeletal reconstructions are also the backbone of my long-running illustration and outreach work, which lives at skeletaldrawing.com and is used by museums, textbooks, and other researchers.
Papers
- 2025
Forelimb feathering, soft tissues, and skeleton of the flying dromaeosaurid Microraptor
Grosmougin M, Wang X, Zheng X, Kaye TG, Chotard M, Barlow LA, Dececchi TA, Habib MB, Zariwala J, Hartman SA, Xu X, Pittman M
BMC Ecology and Evolution 25(1): 6510.1186/s12862-025-02397-5
- 2025
New information on the hind limb feathering, soft tissues and skeleton of Microraptor (Theropoda: Dromaeosauridae)
Chotard M, Wang X, Zheng X, Kaye TG, Grosmougin M, Barlow L, Kundrát M, Dececchi TA, Habib MB, Zariwala J, Hartman SA, Xu X, Pittman M
BMC Ecology and Evolution 25(1): 3710.1186/s12862-025-02372-0
- 2022
Preserved soft anatomy confirms shoulder-powered upstroke of early theropod flyers, reveals enhanced early pygostylian upstroke, and explains early sternum loss
Pittman M, Kaye TG, Wang X, Zheng X, Dececchi TA, Hartman SA
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119(47): e220547611910.1073/pnas.2205476119
- 2019
A new paravian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of North America supports a late acquisition of avian flight
Hartman S, Mortimer M, Wahl WR, Lomax DR, Lippincott J, Lovelace DM
PeerJ 7: e724710.7717/peerj.7247
- 2019
Lower rotational inertia and larger leg muscles indicate more rapid turns in tyrannosaurids than in other large theropods
Snively E, O’Brien H, Henderson DM, Mallison H, Surring LA, Burns ME, Holtz TR, Russell AP, Witmer LM, Currie PJ, Hartman SA, Cotton JR
PeerJ 7: e643210.7717/peerj.6432PDF
- 2017
Basal paravian functional anatomy illuminated by high-detail body outline
Wang X, Pittman M, Zheng X, Kaye TG, Falk AR, Hartman SA, Xu X
Nature Communications 8(1): 1457610.1038/ncomms14576
- 2015
An overview of non-avian theropod discoveries and classification
Hendrickx C, Hartman SA, Mateus O
PalArch's Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology 12(1): 1–73PDF
- 2013
All Yesterdays: unique and speculative views of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals
Conway J, Kosemen CM, Naish D. Skeletal diagrams by Scott Hartman
Irregular Books
- 2010
A new chasmosaurine ceratopsid from the Judith River Formation, Montana
Ryan MJ, Russell AP, Hartman SA
In New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium, pp. 181–188. Indiana University PressPDF
- 2007
The tenth skeletal specimen of Archaeopteryx
MAYR G, POHL B, HARTMAN S, PETERS DS
Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 149(1): 97-11610.1111/j.1096-3642.2006.00245.x
- 2007
Morphology of a specimen of Supersaurus (Dinosauria, Sauropoda) from the Morrison Formation of Wyoming, and a re-evaluation of diplodocid phylogeny
Lovelace DM, Hartman SA, Wahl WR
Arquivos do Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro 65(4): 527–544PDF
- 2006
Duckbill dinosaur chin skin scales: ups, downs and arounds of surficial morphology of Upper Cretaceous Lance Formation dinosaur skin
Wegweiser MD, Hartman SA, Lovelace DM
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 35: 119–125
Conference abstracts & talks
- 2025
New Microraptor specimens bring insight into the forewing anatomy and its impact on flight behavior and ecology
Grosmougin M, Wang X, Zheng X, Kaye TG, Chotard M, Barlow LA, Dececchi TA, Habib MB, Zariwala J, Hartman SA, Xu X, Pittman M
International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology
- 2021
A clarification of rabbit shoulder musculature for teaching functional anatomy
Whisenant J, Kufner A, Hartman SA
Experimental Biology 2021 (online)10.1096/fasebj.2021.35.s1.03747
- 2017
New information on a paravian theropod from the Morrison Formation
Hartman SA, Mortimer M, Wahl WR, Lomax DR, Lovelace DM
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 77th Annual Meeting
- 2012
Investigating the impact of competing interpretations of pectoral girdle placement and appendicular function on sauropod head height
Hartman SA
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual Meeting
- 2006
Estimating osteological neutral position in sauropod axial skeletons: comparing two-dimensional and three-dimensional methods of analysis
Hartman SA, Shinkle L
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual Meeting
- 2006
Late Cretaceous duckbill mandibles and duckbill dinosaur chin skin scales: cheeks, chewing kinetics, and skin
Wegweiser MD, Breithaupt BH, Wahl WR, Hartman SA
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual Meeting
- 2006
Utilizing 3D laser scans and commercially available software to create and analyze virtual morphological data sets
Shinkle L, Hartman SA
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual Meeting
- 2005
Revised osteology of Supersaurus vivianae
Lovelace DM, Hartman SA, Wahl WR
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual Meeting
- 2004
A new diplodocid braincase (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) from the Morrison Formation of north-western Wyoming
Vietti L, Hartman SA
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual Meeting
- 2004
Stance and carriage in Brachylophosaurus: evidence from articulated specimens
Hartman SA
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual Meeting
- 2003
Evidence for costal pneumaticity in a diplodocid dinosaur (Supersaurus vivianae)
Lovelace DM, Wahl WR, Hartman SA
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual Meeting