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Re: Postosuchus stance

I'm trying to fit my postosuchus model into the Chirotherium trackway . Of course Thom beat everyone to the punch and sent me a link to a picture of the trackway! You are right, the Postos manus is really tiny compared to these tracks and it looks as if the animal is walking on its fingers: I don't see a lot of palm print. The tracks also show that there may have been a good degree medio/lateral undulation in Chirotherium's body when it walked. 

D
On Nov 6, 2009, at 12:34 PM, William_Parker@nps.gov wrote:
No specific tracks have been referred to Postosuchus, but Chirotherium has been attributed to a "rauisuchid" trackmaker. Interestingly, Chirotherium is from a plantigrade, quadrupedal animal and there is much debate over 
whether Postosuchus was a biped or quadruped.  Evidence against
quadrupedalism in Postosuchus are the very reduced forearm and tiny manus; 
however, the Chirotherium track maker also has a very small manus.

A cool reconstruction is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chirotherium.jpg

I also addressed this briefly here:

http://chinleana.blogspot.com/2009/01/was-postosuchus-bipedal-or-quadrupedal.html

************************************************************************
Bill Parker
Vertebrate Paleontologist
Division of Resource Management
Petrified Forest National Park
P.O. Box 2217
1 Park Road
Petrified Forest, AZ 86028
(928) 524-6228 x262



            David Krentz
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                                      Postosuchus stance
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  What trackways have been attributed to Postosuchus?  Do they show
full plantigrade feet, ( is a crurotarstian considered
plantigrade)  ?  Do they show a wide stance with in the front arms or
are they more indicative of a more erect posture?
Does the manus rotate outwards?

  This is truly a really cool creature!

D