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carpometacarpus

Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun anatomy The fusion of digits (carpals and metacarpals) that forms the wing in birds.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The proximal end of the carpometacarpus is a large, trochleated, convex lump that is very obviously homologous with the semi-lunate carpal bone of non-avian maniraptoran theropods.

    ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science 2010

  • Based predominantly on the morphology of the carpometacarpus, some ornithologists have proposed that cariamaens are closely related to the Hoatzin* Opisthocomus hoazin**, that bizarre folivorous, arboreal bird that (uniquely among birds) practices foregut fermentation.

    Archive 2006-11-01 Darren Naish 2006

  • Based predominantly on the morphology of the carpometacarpus, some ornithologists have proposed that cariamaens are closely related to the Hoatzin* Opisthocomus hoazin**, that bizarre folivorous, arboreal bird that (uniquely among birds) practices foregut fermentation.

    Giant hoatzins of doom Darren Naish 2006

  • (Anhimidae) are, in terms of hand anatomy, among the most incredible of birds because they possess two large spikes on the carpometacarpus.

    ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science 2010

  • While birds do still possess the bones of three individual fingers, the metacarpal and distal carpal bones have united to form a single structure called the carpometacarpus.

    ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science 2010

  • In The Palaeontological Association Newsletter article mentioned above, Al McGowan (2006) also mentioned Stewart’s interest in this subject and, even better, discussed and figured an eagle owl carpometacarpus from post-glacial deposits near Cheddar, Somerset.

    Archive 2006-06-01 Darren Naish 2006

  • A projecting structure termed the extensor process (or extensor attachment) is present between the carpal trochlea and the alular digit; it belongs to metacarpal I (also called the alular metacarpal), but this is hard to appreciate in modern birds because metacarpal I is fused imperceptibly into the carpometacarpus as mentioned above [in the adjacent diagram, from

    ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science 2010

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