The Vertebrate SkeletonReynolds, Sidney H. (Sidney Hugh)
Science
The Vertebrate Skeleton
Reynolds, Sidney H. (Sidney Hugh)
Skeleton
In the MARSUPIALIA the pes is subject to great modifications, but in
every case the seven usual tarsal bones are distinct. In the
Didelphyidae the foot is broad, all five digits are well developed,
and the hallux is opposable to the others. In the Dasyuridae the foot
is narrow, and the hallux may be very small, or as in _Thylacinus_
completely absent. In _Notoryctes_ the pes is much less abnormal than
the manus, and all five digits have the usual number of phalanges. The
fifth metatarsal has a curious projecting process, and there is a
large sesamoid above the hallux. In the Wombats (Phascolomyidae) the
foot is short and broad, the digits are all distinct, and the hallux
is divaricated from the others.
In the remaining marsupials the second and third metacarpals and
digits are very slender, and are enclosed within a common integument.
This condition is known as _syndactylism_, and its effect is to
produce the appearance of one toe with two claws. In the Kangaroos
(Macropodidae) the pes is very long and narrow, owing to the
elongation of the metacarpals. The fourth digit is greatly developed,
the fifth moderately so, while the hallux is absent, and the second
and third digits are very small. The Peramelidae have the foot
constructed on the same plan as in the Kangaroos, and in one genus
_Choeropus_ the same type of foot is carried to a greater extreme than
even in the Kangaroos. Thus the fourth digit is enormously developed,
the second and third are small, and the fifth smaller still, while the
hallux is absent. In the Phalangers and Koalas though the second and
third toes are very slender, the hallux is well developed and
opposable.
EDENTATA. In the Sloths the pes much resembles the manus, being long
and narrow, but in both genera the second, third and fourth digits are
well developed. Most of the other Edentates have a but little modified
pes with the normal number of tarsal bones and the complete series of
digits. In _Cycloturus_ however the hallux is vestigial and it is
absent in Glyptodonts. _Megatherium_ has a greatly modified pes, the
hallux is absent, and the second digit vestigial, while the third is
very large, having an enormous ungual phalanx. The calcaneum too is
abnormally large.
No trace of the pes occurs in either SIRENIA or CETACEA.
In the UNGULATA the pes like the manus is subject to much variation
and is of great morphological importance.
In the UNGULATA VERA the pes is never plantigrade and never has more
than four digits, the hallux being absent. The cuboid always
articulates with the astragalus, and the tarsal bones strongly
interlock. As was the case also with the manus, the pes is formed on
two well-marked types characteristic respectively of the Artiodactyla
and Perissodactyla.
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