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Crocodilian relatives that walked upright?

By Bjørn Østman on 10/30/2012 11:27:00 AM
I seriously have trouble believing this. Can anybody shed some light?


It's from the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Wikipedia on Crurotarsans (spelling?) says nothing of it.

2 comments:

  1. trilobuttOctober 30, 2012 12:10 PM

    It's legit. The rauisuchians had a posture called "pillar-erect", achieved by making the ilium horizontal and moving the acetabulum ventrally, resulting in hind limbs that were vertical.

    Even for crocodylomorphs, some suggest that an erect posture is the plesiomorphic condition, with the sprawling posture of crocs nowadays coming about as they adaptated to an aquatic lifestyle from the Jurassic onwards. This is supported by several basal fossils having an erect posture, such as Terrestrisuchus and Junggarsuchus. See Parrish (1987) for the details (Junggarsuchus was described in 2004, so isn't mentioned).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bjørn ØstmanOctober 30, 2012 12:21 PM

    Fascinating. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

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