Forelimb Kinematics of Rats Using XROMM, with Implications for Small Eutherians and Their Fossil Relatives.

ABSTRACT: The earliest eutherian mammals were small-bodied locomotor generalists with a forelimb morphology that strongly resembles that of extant rats. Understanding the kinematics of the humerus, radius, and ulna of extant rats can inform and constrain hypotheses concerning typical posture and mobility in early eutherian forelimbs. The locomotion of Rattus norvegicus has been extensively studied, but the three-dimensional kinematics of the bones themselves remains under-explored. Here, for the first time, we use markerless XROMM (Scientific Rotoscoping) to explore the three-dimensional long bone movements in Rattus norvegicus during a normal, symmetrical gait (walking). Our data show a basic kinematic profile that agrees with previous studies on rats and other small therians: rats maintain a crouc

SUBMITTER: Bonnan MF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4775064 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature