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THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THYLACINUS CYNOCEPHALUS:
- THYLACINE ANATOMY -
(POST-CRANIAL SKELETON)
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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).
 

    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).
epipubic bones of the thylacine - image © Nicholas Ayliffe
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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.

 
thylacine skeleton - image © Nicholas Ayliffe
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A thylacine skeleton.
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skeletal thylacine manus (top) and pes (bottom) - image © Nicholas Ayliffe
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Skeletal thylacine manus (top) and pes (bottom).
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Information on this page is referenced primarily from:  SMITH, M., 1982. Review of the Thylacine (Marsupialia, Thylacinidae). In "Carnivorous Marsupials - Vol. 1" (Ed. M. Archer). Roy. Zool. Soc. N.S.W.: Sydney. pp. 237-53.
Section references
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back to: Dentition return to the subsection's introduction forward to: Internal Anatomy (page 1)


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