Stance and gait in the hindlimb of a therocephalian mammal‐like reptile
Author:
Open Access
- 1 October 1978
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Zoology
- Vol. 186 (2) , 143-161
Abstract
The ilium, femur, tibia, fibula, astragalus and calcaneum of the therocephalian therapsid Regisaurus jacobi Mendrez are described. Functional consideration of the bones and particularly the nature of the hip, knee and ankle joints indicate that this animal was capable of at least two distinct gaits, a primitive, sprawling type and an advanced upright type. The ankle joint had a moveable articulation between the astragalus and the calcaneum analogous to that of the crocodiles. The possibility of such a multi‐gaited intermediate stage having occurred in the course of the evolution of the mammalian locomotory pattern is suggested.Keywords
This publication has 7 references indexed in Scilit:
- Experimental and Fossil Evidence for the Evolution of Tetrapod Bioenergetics1975
- Whaitsiid Therocephalia and the origin of cynodontsPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences, 1972
- Limb posture and locomotion in the Virginia opossum (Didelphis marsupialis) and in other non‐cursorial mammalsJournal of Zoology, 1971
- The atlas‐axis complex of the mammal‐like reptilesJournal of Zoology, 1969
- THE EVOLUTION OF THE MAMMALIAN FEMURJournal of Zoology, 1961
- Scientific results of an inquiry into the ecology and economic status of the Nile Crocodile(Crocodilus niloticus)in Uganda and Northern RhodesiaThe Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, 1961
- 55. On the Skeleton of a Bauriamorph Reptile.Journal of Zoology, 1931