RE: Mammal-like crocodilian described

[Jaime Headden <qi_leong@hotmail.com>]

We are almost certainly referring to some poposaurs, such as *Postosuchus 
kirkpatricki*, which has a very small manus and seemingly shorter forelimbs 
than would made effective bipedal _running_ feasible. Other poposaurids may 
have differed. "Rauisuchians" in general exhibit an inturned femoral caput, 
"incipient" cervix, and a supracetabular shelf with medial opening of the 
acetabulum, indicating the femur was held firmly and beneath the ilium. 
Construction of the knee and femoral curvature also implies primarily a 
fore-aft movement while the femur is in near vertical orientation, indicating 
parasagittal stance and walk.

Cheers,

Jaime A. Headden
The Bite Stuff (site v2)
http://qilong.wordpress.com/

"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)


"Ever since man first left his cave and met a stranger with a
different language and a new way of looking at things, the human race
has had a dream: to kill him, so we don't have to learn his language or
his new way of looking at things." --- Zapp Brannigan (Beast With a Billion 
Backs)





----------------------------------------
> Date: Thu, 5 Aug 2010 10:46:08 +1000
> From: dannj@alphalink.com.au
> To: dinosaur@usc.edu
> Subject: Re: Mammal-like crocodilian described
>
> Pristichampsus was a long-legged 'hoofed crocodile' from the Eocene, which 
> may have been able
> to run bipedally according to some sources.
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 5th, 2010 at 9:51 AM, Dan Chure  wrote:
>
> > There is, I believe, a group of Tertiary crocs that are considered to
> > be at least facultatively bipedal, although I am unfamiliar with the
> > details as to why that is thought to be so.
> >
> > Dan
> >
> > On 8/4/2010 5:44 PM, GUY LEAHY wrote:
> > >
> > > This is interesting:
> > >
> > > http://www.ohio.edu/research/communications/crocteeth.cfm
> > >
> > > It's pretty amazing to consider how ecologically diverse Mesozoic crocs 
> > > were compared
> > > to extant relatives. One wonders what early Cenozoic faunas would have 
> > > looked like
> > > if some of these croc lineages had survived the K-Pg extinction event...
>
>
> --
> _____________________________________________________________
>
> Dann Pigdon
> Spatial Data Analyst Australian Dinosaurs
> Melbourne, Australia http://home.alphalink.com.au/~dannj
> _____________________________________________________________
>