What is a crurotarsal joint?

A crurotarsal joint is one that’s situated between the bones of crus, i.e. shin (tibia and fibula) and the proximal tarsal bones, i.e. astragalus and calcaneum.

What is the astragalus bone?

The talus (plural: tali 4), also known as the astragalus 4, is a tarsal bone in the hindfoot that articulates with the tibia, fibula, calcaneus, and navicular bones. It has no muscular attachments and around 60% of its surface is covered by articular cartilage.

Do crocodiles have ankle bones?

In crocodylians though, their ankles are arranged in a much different manner. Their upper (proximal) bones of the ankle are split up and arranged so that the joint passes between them instead of between the proximal and distal (lower) bones like in lizards.

What are the living representatives of Crurotarsi?

Crurotarsi is a clade of archosauriform reptiles that includes the archosaurs (represented today by birds and crocodilians) and the extinct, crocodile-like phytosaurs.

What is Astragalus calcaneum?

The joint between the bones of crus, i.e. shin (tibia and fibula) and the proximal tarsal bones, i.e. Astragalus and calcaneum is called crurotarsal bones. As tarsals are the bones of the hind limb, the tarsal bones i.e Astragalus and calcaneum are part of the hind limb.

What advantage did dinosaurs have over Pseudosuchians?

The authors suggest that dinosaurs had better breathing biology and superior locomotive morphology, allowing them to move to where the food was. Subsequently, with fewer predators around, the dinosaurs became one of the dominate species on Earth, at least for a time.

Do humans have an astragalus bone?

In the human ankle there are seven tarsal bones. The talus (astragalus) articulates above with the bones of the lower leg to form the ankle joint. The other six tarsals, tightly bound together by ligaments below the talus, function as a strong weight-bearing platform.

What part of astragalus is used?

Astragalus is a perennial plant, about 16 to 36 inches tall, that is native to the northern and eastern parts of China, as well as Mongolia and Korea. It has hairy stems with leaves made up of 12 to 18 pairs of leaflets. The root is the medicinal part of the plant, and is usually harvested from 4-year-old plants.

How do Crocs walk?

In high walking locomotion, the crocodile positions its legs erect beneath its body and lifts its entire body and nearly half its tail off the ground. It can travel at speeds of between 2-4kph in this way, with short bursts of up to 5kph.

Do crocodiles have ribs?

You have seven true ribs attached to the breast bone (sternum), three false ribs that are attached to the spine and combine at the bottom of the seventh rib, and two floating ribs.

When did the last Crurotarsan live?

Specimens are found as fossils in Middle Triassic rocks of South Africa (245 to 240 million years ago).

What are the only archosaurs still alive?

Non-avian dinosaurs and pterosaurs perished in the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, which occurred approximately 65.5 million years ago, but crocodilians and birds (the only remaining dinosaur group) survived. Both are descendants of archosaurs, and are therefore archosaurs themselves under phylogenetic taxonomy.