Early Permian bipedal reptile.
A 290-million-year-old reptilian skeleton from the Lower Permian (Asselian) of Germany provides evidence of abilities for cursorial bipedal locomotion, employing a parasagittal digitigrade posture. The skeleton is of a small bolosaurid, Eudibamus cursoris, gen. et sp. nov. and confirms the widespread distribution of Bolosauridae across Laurasia during this early stage of amniote evolution. E. cursoris is the oldest known representative of Parareptilia, a major clade of reptiles.
Berman
D S
DS
Section of Vertebrate Paleontology, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Reisz
R R
RR
Scott
D
D
Henrici
A C
AC
Sumida
S S
SS
Martens
T
T
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005552:Forelimb / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D005580:Fossils; D005684:Gait; D005858:Germany; D006614:Hindlimb / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D008124:Locomotion; D011187:Posture; D012104:Reptiles / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D012420:Running; D012863:Skeleton; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D013131:Spine / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D013623:Tail / Q000033:anatomy & histology