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Re: tree-climbing hominids
chris brochu (gator@mail.utexas.edu)
15 Oct 1995 15:32:17 GMT
In article <hubey.813616969@pegasus.montclair.edu> H. M. Hubey,
hubey@pegasus.montclair.edu writes:
>ideal. It would be hard to tell from fossils millions of years
>old if some lizard-like shape was aquatic like a croc or
>some land lizard. The lower life forms are low to the ground,
>have large tails for balance, and their feet aren't directly
>underneath them (the quads, that is). We expect them to all look
>like this. The legs can get smaller, disappear, or get longer and
YAAFI.
There are, in fact, ways of separating semiaquatic nonavian reptiles from
their terrestrial relatives.
Semiaquatic reptiles, like crocs, have deep, flattened tails; low,
elongate snouts; short, stout limbs; and dorsally-projected orbits. They
may also have their external nares elevated from the surface of the
skull. Compare crocodylians, phytosaurs, champsosaurs, nothosaurs, and
mesosaurs with terrestrial squamates.
chris
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