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Science 13 May 1983:
Vol. 220. no. 4598, pp. 712 - 715
DOI: 10.1126/science.220.4598.712
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Articles

Adaptations for Climbing in North American Multituberculates (Mammalia)

FARISH A. JENKINS JR. 1 and DAVID W. KRAUSE 2

1 Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
2 Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109

A recently discovered skeleton of Ptilodus exhibits several specializations for climbing. A survey of postcranial bones of Cretaceous and early Cenozoic multituberculates from North America reveals similar locomotor specializations. Multituberculates possessed distinctive tarsal adaptations for a range of pedal mobility characteristic of arboreal mammals that descend trees headfirst. The divergent hallux could move independently of the other digits. The long robust tail of Ptilodus possessed musculoskeletal features that, among living mammals, are associated with prehensility.

Submitted on May 14, 1982
Revised on September 29, 1982


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