Locomotion in derived dicynodonts (Synapsida, Anomodontia): a functional analysis of the pelvic girdle and hind limb of<i>Tetragonias njalilus</i>
Bibliographic record
Abstract
A general locomotor model for derived dicynodont anomodonts is proposed on the basis of a functional analysis of the pelvic girdle and entire hind limb of the medium-sized Middle Triassic dicynodont Tetragonias njalilus. The joint mobility of the hind limb is examined, and a hind limb step cycle is reconstructed. The data provided in this case study indicate that Tetragonias adopted a highly adducted (upright) hind limb posture during stance and most of its stride. Nevertheless, lateral undulation of the vertebral column must also have contributed to the locomotion of dicynodonts. Character optimization of the traits associated with an upright posture of the hind limb shows a gradual evolution of dicynodont locomotion. The evolution of an upright hind limb posture has occurred several times independently in a number of amniote clades. Within synapsids, the Anomodontia, Dinocephalia, and Theriodontia acquired a parasagittal hind limb gait already as early as the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic, prior to its evolution in mammals. This phenomenon has previously been explained as being related to an increase in body size as a response to increased biomechanical stress on the limb. This scenario appears plausible with respect to dicynodonts because of the occurrence of megaherbivore-sized taxa in the Triassic, but this study shows that a parasagittal gait had already evolved in the medium-sized basal kannemeyeriiform Tetragonias. Therefore, the vertical support of the body by the hind limbs in medium-sized dicynodonts could have allowed the evolution of the large Triassic taxa in the first place.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".