The Vertebrate SkeletonReynolds, Sidney H. (Sidney Hugh)
Science
The Vertebrate Skeleton
Reynolds, Sidney H. (Sidney Hugh)
Skeleton
In Anura the pollex is represented only by a short metacarpal. There
are sometimes traces of a prepollex. The carpus often has two
centralia and the intermedium is absent.
In Labyrinthodontia the limbs are generally very simple and resemble
those of Urodela. In some forms, however, the manus differs from that
of all living Amphibia in possessing five well-developed digits.
PELVIC GIRDLE.
The simplest Amphibian pelvis is that of some of the Labyrinthodontia;
thus in _Mastodonsaurus_ it consists dorsally of a short broad ilium
placed vertically and attached to the sacrum, and ventrally of a small
pubis and of a large ischium meeting its fellow in the middle line. In
some Labyrinthodonts the pubes as well as the ischia meet in a ventral
symphysis, and in many there are no obturator foramina. In _Siren_,
Gymnophiona and some Labyrinthodontia the pelvic girdle and limbs are
absent.
In Urodela the ventral element of the pelvis on each side forms a flat
plate which meets its fellow of the opposite side. The anterior part
of the plate, representing the pubis, generally remains cartilaginous
throughout life; the posterior part representing the ischium is in
almost every case well ossified. Attached to the anterior end of the
pubes there is an unpaired bifid cartilaginous structure, the
epipubis. The ilia are vertically placed.
In most Anura the pelvis is peculiarly modified in correlation with
the habits of jumping. The long bone generally called the ilium is
placed horizontally and is attached at its extreme anterior end to the
sacrum. The ischium is ossified and distinct. Ventrally in front of
the ischium there is a tract of unossified cartilage which is often
regarded as the pubis. In _Xenopus_, however, the bone corresponding
to the ilium of the Frog is seen to ossify from two centres, one
forming the ilium, the other, which lies at the symphysis, being
apparently the pubis. This makes it probable that the so-called ilium
of the Frog is really to be regarded as an ilio-pubis, and renders the
homology of the cartilaginous part uncertain, but it probably
corresponds to the acetabular bone of mammals. In _Xenopus_ also there
is a minute epipubis similar to that of Urodeles.
POSTERIOR LIMB.
In Urodela the posterior limb (fig. 31, B) closely resembles the
anterior limb, but is even less removed from the primitive condition
of the higher vertebrates in the fact that all five digits are
commonly present. The tibia and fibula are short bones approximately
equal in size. In some cases the number of digits is reduced. Thus in
_Menobranchus_ the pes has four digits, in _Proteus_ it has two, and
in _Amphiuma_ two or three, while in _Siren_ the posterior limbs have
atrophied.
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