About the Authors

Holger Preuschoft

Affiliation Anatomical Institute, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

Nicole Klein

nicole.klein@smns-bw.de

Affiliation Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Analyzed the data: HP NK. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: HP NK. Wrote the paper: HP NK. Conceived and designed the experiments (theorhetical biomechanical part): HP. Conceived and designed the experiments (histology of cervical ribs): NK. Performed the experiments ((theorhetical biomechanical part): HP. Performed the experiments (histology of cervical ribs): NK.