Tibiotarsus

Pigeon skeleton; numbers 10 and 11 indicates the tibiotarsus

The tibiotarsus is the large bone between the femur and the tarsometatarsus in the leg of a bird. It is the fusion of the proximal part of the tarsus with the tibia.

A similar structure also occurred in the Mesozoic Heterodontosauridae. These small ornithischian dinosaurs were unrelated to birds and the similarity of their foot bones is best explained by convergent evolution.

File:Tibiotarsi of extinct birds.jpg

Tibiotarsi of Grus cubensis, Propelargus edwardsi, and Palaelodus gracilipes at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin

See also

• Bird anatomy

References

• Proctor, Nobel S. Manual of Ornithology: Avian Structure and Function. Yale University Press. (1993) ISBN 0-300-05746-6