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Post by Infinity Blade on May 19, 2016 3:52:29 GMT 5
I have a question regarding the sail-backed stem-mammal we all know and love: Dimetrodon. What were its claws like and could they plausibly be used as predatory tools (I've recently been looking at some extinct predators and what their claws were like)? I recently read a description from an old book (you can see why I'm skeptical) claiming the claws of sphenacodontids to have been strong and hooked, and that Dimetrodon's in particular were "talon-like in size and form" ( link). Is there a scholarly description of its claws or anything that may corroborate or refute this claim? |
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Post by Infinity Blade on May 19, 2016 14:57:40 GMT 5
Anyone have any answers?
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Post by creature386 on May 19, 2016 16:05:25 GMT 5
Alright, a google scholar search of the words "DImetrodon talon" showed that these two words are hardly used in the same sentence, indicating that this is not a usual description. Most descriptions I have found kept telling us something about "powerful" claws which of course tells us little on its own.
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2016 16:24:22 GMT 5
I haven't been able to find a good description of Dimetrodon's claws. Here's the best I can find regarding pictures of Dimetrodon's claws:  |
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Post by allosaurusatrox on May 20, 2016 0:09:54 GMT 5
I haven't been able to find a good description of Dimetrodon's claws. Here's the best I can find regarding pictures of Dimetrodon's claws: I wouldn't say those claws are particularly talon-like. If anything Dime's claws seem to be used for traction and digging. |
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Post by Infinity Blade on Sept 2, 2016 1:34:54 GMT 5
I found something that describes the claws of D. limbatus. It turns out the last publication I requested on the paper request thread is easily accessible on ResearchGate. www.researchgate.net/publication/233610252_The_morphology_of_the_terminal_phalanges_in_Permo-Carboniferous_synapsids_An_evolutionary_perspectiveAs you can see from the pictures of its claws and restorations thereof, they're fairly curved, pointed at the tip, and they seem to have rather well developed flexor tubercles. I feel TEMPTED to say that they may have had some raptorial function, but the paper thinks that the claw shapes in their sample of synapsids doesn't reflect changes in feeding behavior. " The available evidence indicates that this trend in gross morphological change appears to be independent of diet and, therefore, independent of potential function. Varanops sp. is a small predator and yet exhibits the broad, flat terminal phalanx morphology of the large herbivore C. romeri . In contrast, the herbivorous E. boanerges shares a terminal phalanx morphology with the large predator D. limbatus . This supports the hypothesis that the gross morphology of the terminal phalanges in basal synapsids possesses a phylogenetic signal." Then again, it could just mean that some predators used their claws as weapons and others didn't while herbivores used them for who knows what. If you're wondering what all this stuff about synapsid claws from me is all about, I'm just trying to elucidate how the limbs/claws of some predatory stem mammals may have related to predatory behavior (I originally requested the above paper to see how Titanophoneus holds up; it did mention that its claws were "very similar" to those of D. limbatus). |
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