Paleontology Glossary

essential terms and definitions for paleontology and dinosaur science.

Locomotion & Biomechanics

20 terms

Terms related to how dinosaurs moved, their posture, and the mechanical principles underlying locomotion.

Moving habitually on two legs. All theropods were bipedal, as were most early ornithischians. Bipedalism …

Adapted for fast running. Cursorial adaptations include elongated metatarsals, a narrow foot, and reduced digit …

Walking on the toes with the heel raised off the ground. Theropods were digitigrade, giving …

An animal capable of moving on either two or four legs. Some hadrosaurs and iguanodontians …

The wishbone, formed by the fusion of the clavicles. Present in many theropods including T. …

A locomotor style adapted for carrying great body mass rather than speed, characterized by columnar …

The innermost (first) digit of the foot, the equivalent of the human big toe. In …

A skull in which the bones can move relative to each other, increasing gape or …

An animal that can only move on two legs due to anatomical constraints. T. rex …

Vertebrae with a convex front and concave rear articulation surface. Opisthocoelous cervical vertebrae in sauropods …

Walking with the entire sole of the foot on the ground. Some sauropods had semi-plantigrade …

Bone containing air-filled chambers connected to the respiratory system via diverticula. Extensively developed in sauropod …

Vertebrae with a concave front and convex rear articulation surface. Procoelous vertebrae are common in …

An expanded, foot-like process at the distal end of the pubis in some theropods. The …

A fused structure of tail vertebrae at the end of the tail in birds and …

Moving on four legs. Large sauropods, ceratopsians, and ankylosaurs were obligate quadrupeds. Quadrupedal stance distributes …

The vertebrae fused into the sacrum, connecting the spine to the pelvic girdle. Large theropods …

A half-moon-shaped wrist bone found in maniraptoran theropods and birds. The semilunate carpal enabled the …

Teeth set in deep sockets in the jawbone, the condition found in all dinosaurs and …

The terminal claw bone of a digit. Unguals are highly variable among dinosaurs — the …