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1 December 2007 SKELETAL MORPHOLOGY AND LOCOMOTOR BEHAVIOR OF PSEUDOTOMUS EUGENEI (RODENTIA, PARAMYINAE) FROM THE UINTA FORMATION, UTAH
RACHEL H. DUNN, D. TAB RASMUSSEN
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Abstract

A new skeleton of Pseudotomus eugenei is described and compared to extant large bodied rodents and those fossil manitshines represented by postcranial material (Pseudotomus robustus, Pseudotomus petersoni, and Manitshatanka). The postcranial skeleton of P. eugenei is unspecialized in terms of individual joint function as well as in overall proportions. The forelimb is heavily muscled with a generalized shoulder but with some distinctive features of the elbow and manus. These include an extremely broad distal humerus, long olecranon process, short proximal and middle phalanges and long, uncompressed ungual phalanges. The hind limb of P. eugenei is also generalized, but departs from those of earlier manitshines in the deeper patellar groove and femoral condyles, and in the size reduction of the peripheral metatarsals, suggesting a stronger commitment to terrestrial life. A quantitative analysis of limb proportions indicates that P. eugenei and the other manitshines generally resemble terrestrial rather than arboreal rodents. This is especially evident in the shape of the radial head, and in the shape and relatively greater lengths of the olecranon process, phalanges and metapodials. These features of the forelimb together with the long and uncompressed ungual phalanges of the manus suggest that when P. eugenei diverges from other manitshines, it is in a semi-fossorial direction. Here it is reconstructed as a generalized terrestrial rodent with fossorial tendencies.

RACHEL H. DUNN and D. TAB RASMUSSEN "SKELETAL MORPHOLOGY AND LOCOMOTOR BEHAVIOR OF PSEUDOTOMUS EUGENEI (RODENTIA, PARAMYINAE) FROM THE UINTA FORMATION, UTAH," Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27(4), 987-1006, (1 December 2007). https://doi.org/10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[987:SMALBO]2.0.CO;2
Accepted: 12 May 2007; Published: 1 December 2007
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