ArticleRoyal Society open science2019
Testing for a facultative locomotor mode in the acquisition of archosaur bipedality.
Article in Royal Society open science, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Functional morphology and biomechanics of the locomotor apparatus in the large Late Triassic carnivore Postosuchus kirkpatricki (Archosauria: Rauisuchidae).Journal of anatomy · 2026Article
- Hindlimb functional morphology and locomotor biomechanics of the small Late Triassic pseudosuchian reptile Gracilisuchus stipanicicorum (Archosauria: Gracilisuchidae).Journal of anatomy · 2026Article
- Hindlimb biomechanics of Lagosuchus talampayensis (Archosauria, Dinosauriformes), with comments on skeletal morphology.Journal of anatomy · 2025Article
- Biomechanical modeling of musculoskeletal function related to the terrestrial locomotion of Riojasuchus tenuisceps (Archosauria: Ornithosuchidae).Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2025Article
- Locomotion and the early Mesozoic success of Archosauromorpha.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Locomotor and postural diversity among reptiles viewed through the prism of femoral microanatomy: Palaeobiological implications for some Permian and Mesozoic taxa.Journal of anatomy · 2023Article
- Quantitative biomechanical assessment of locomotor capabilities of the stem archosaurRoyal Society open science · 2023Article
- A proposed standard for quantifying 3-D hindlimb joint poses in living and extinct archosaurs.Journal of anatomy · 2022Article
- Femoral specializations to locomotor habits in early archosauriforms.Journal of anatomy · 2022Article
- Walking with early dinosaurs: appendicular myology of the Late Triassic sauropodomorphRoyal Society open science · 2022Article
- Musculoskeletal modelling of the Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) hindlimb: Effects of limb posture on leverage during terrestrial locomotion.Journal of anatomy · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
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Abstract
Bipedal locomotion is a defining characteristic of humans and birds and has a profound effect on how these groups interact with their environment. Results from extensive hominin research indicate that there exists an intermediate stage in hominin evolution-facultative bipedality-between obligate quadrupedality and obligate bipedality that uses both forms of locomotion. It is assumed that archosaur locomotor evolution followed this sequence of functional and hence character-state evolution. However, this assumption has never been tested in a broad phylogenetic context. We test whether facultative bipedality is a transitionary state of locomotor mode evolution in the most recent early archosaur phylogenies using maximum-likelihood ancestral state reconstructions for the first time. Across a total of seven independent transitions from quadrupedality to a state of obligate bipedality, we find that facultative bipedality exists as an intermediary mode only once, despite being acquired a total of 14 times. We also report more independent acquisitions of obligate bipedality in archosaurs than previously hypothesized, suggesting that locomotor mode is more evolutionarily fluid than expected and more readily experimented with in these reptiles.
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