古生物学术语表
古生物学和恐龙科学的基本术语和定义。
与恐龙运动方式、姿态及运动力学原理相关的术语。
Quadrupedal
Moving on four legs. Large sauropods, ceratopsians, and ankylosaurs were obligate quadrupeds. Quadrupedal stance distributes …
Ungual
The terminal claw bone of a digit. Unguals are highly variable among dinosaurs — the …
Bipedal
Moving habitually on two legs. All theropods were bipedal, as were most early ornithischians. Bipedalism …
Pubic Boot
An expanded, foot-like process at the distal end of the pubis in some theropods. The …
Graviportal
A locomotor style adapted for carrying great body mass rather than speed, characterized by columnar …
Cursorial
Adapted for fast running. Cursorial adaptations include elongated metatarsals, a narrow foot, and reduced digit …
Obligate Biped
An animal that can only move on two legs due to anatomical constraints. T. rex …
Pneumatic Bone
Bone containing air-filled chambers connected to the respiratory system via diverticula. Extensively developed in sauropod …
Semilunate Carpal
A half-moon-shaped wrist bone found in maniraptoran theropods and birds. The semilunate carpal enabled the …
Thecodont Dentition
Teeth set in deep sockets in the jawbone, the condition found in all dinosaurs and …
Facultative Quadruped
An animal capable of moving on either two or four legs. Some hadrosaurs and iguanodontians …
Kinetic Skull
A skull in which the bones can move relative to each other, increasing gape or …
Sacral Vertebrae
The vertebrae fused into the sacrum, connecting the spine to the pelvic girdle. Large theropods …
Digitigrade
Walking on the toes with the heel raised off the ground. Theropods were digitigrade, giving …
Furcula
The wishbone, formed by the fusion of the clavicles. Present in many theropods including T. …
Hallux
The innermost (first) digit of the foot, the equivalent of the human big toe. In …
Plantigrade
Walking with the entire sole of the foot on the ground. Some sauropods had semi-plantigrade …
Opisthocoelous
Vertebrae with a convex front and concave rear articulation surface. Opisthocoelous cervical vertebrae in sauropods …
Procoelous
Vertebrae with a concave front and convex rear articulation surface. Procoelous vertebrae are common in …
Pygostyle
A fused structure of tail vertebrae at the end of the tail in birds and …