Reverse-engineering the Locomotion of a Stem Amniote – Insights from a Multidisciplinary Approach

Reconstructing the locomotion of key vertebrate fossil specimens offers insights into their palaeobiology and helps to conceptualize major transitions in vertebrate evolution. A unique combination of an articulated nearly complete early land-living vertebrate fossil specimen and fossilized trackways was the starting point for an in-depth reconstruction of the locomotion based on the integration of image-based analyses with engineering techniques. The reconstruction involved experimental as well as computer-aided modeling approaches (›virtual paleontology‹). Starting from a large space of potential solutions, unlikely postures and gaits were step-wise excluded based on quantitative data. Research into the fossil’s anatomy, the fossil’s potential joint mobility and simulated potential movements within fossil tracks, a comparative analysis of modern animal locomotor biomechanics using x-ray motion analysis, and finally into a bio-inspired walking machine (OroBOT) were summarized. The locomotor reconstruction demonstrated that Orobates exhibited more advanced locomotion than was assumed for earlier species, which suggests that advanced terrestrial locomotion preceded the diversification of crown amniotes, a highly successful group of modern vertebrates. The talk exemplified how contemporary paleobiological research can be focused on constraint-based exclusion of unlikely scenarios and dealt with uncertainty.

For registration for the online lecture, please see the Cluster »Science of Intelligence« website.

Prof. Dr. John Nyakatura is Project Leader in the project Cutting and Principle Investigator in Symbolic Material and Material Form Function. For information about his research, see also the webpage of the Nyakatura Lab.