Femoral specializations to locomotor habits in early archosauriforms.

ABSTRACT: The evolutionary history of archosaurs and their closest relatives is characterized by a wide diversity of locomotor modes, which has even been suggested as a pivotal aspect underlying the evolutionary success of dinosaurs vs. pseudosuchians across the Triassic-Jurassic transition. This locomotor diversity (e.g., more sprawling/erect; crouched/upright; quadrupedal/bipedal) led to several morphofunctional specializations of archosauriform limb bones that have been studied qualitatively as well as quantitatively through various linear morphometric studies. However, differences in locomotor habits have never been studied across the Triassic-Jurassic transition using 3D geometric morphometrics, which can relate how morphological features vary according to biological factors such as locomotor h

SUBMITTER: Pintore R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9005686 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature