Locomotion in Moles (Insectivora, Proscalopidae) from the Middle Tertiary of North America

The locomotion of proscalopid moles, an extinct group restricted to North America, differed from that of other animals. Analysis of a newly discovered and relatively complete and articulated skeleton shows that the digging technique of proscalopids involved a combination of motions that has not been...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 216; no. 4542; pp. 183 - 185
Main Author:	Barnosky, Anthony D.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States The American Association for the Advancement of Science 09-04-1982 American Association for the Advancement of Science
Subjects:	Animal locomotion Cervical vertebrae Humerus Insectivores Moles Moles (Animals) Moles (Mammals) Paleobiology Physiological aspects Rotation Scapula Scapulars Skeleton Skull Spine
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	The locomotion of proscalopid moles, an extinct group restricted to North America, differed from that of other animals. Analysis of a newly discovered and relatively complete and articulated skeleton shows that the digging technique of proscalopids involved a combination of motions that has not been observed in modern fossorial insectivores. The many anatomical peculiarities of proscalopids are related to their specialized digging technique and justify their assignment to a new family of insectivores, the Proscalopidae.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2
ISSN:	0036-8075 1095-9203
DOI:	10.1126/science.216.4542.183