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POST-CRANIAL
SKELETON
The number of vertebrae in Thylacinus is similar to that of
Sarcophilus
and Dasyurus - 7 cervical, 13 thoracic, and 6 lumbar. However,
the thylacine has only two sacral vertebrae instead of three, as is the
case with the other two genera, and the tail has 25 vertebrae instead of
20 or 21 (Moeller 1968).
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Vestigial clavicles and epipubic bones are the two most notable features
of the post-cranial skeleton. Since this species has evolved for
running instead of climbing, the clavicles have become narrow, curved structures
5 cm (2 in.) long (Cunningham 1882). The epipubic bones, though still
present, have been reduced to a pair of "small, oblong, flattened fibro-cartilages,
imbedded in the internal pillars of the abdominal rings, and (they) appear
each as a thickened part of the tendon of the oblique abdominal muscle,
which forms the above pillar" (Owen 1843). |
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| The
epipubic bones of the thylacine, shown here mounted on an articulated skeleton.
The epipubics are present in all species of marsupials, and occur in both
sexes. |
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| Skeletal
thylacine manus (top) and pes (bottom). |
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