Opisthocoelous
Definition, Meaning & Examples
Part of speech adjective
Quick meaning: Opisthocoelous is an adjective meaning concave behind; applied especially to vertebrae in which the anterior end of the centrum is convex and the posterior concave.
Meaning
concave behind; applied especially to vertebrae in which the anterior end of the centrum is convex and the posterior concave.
Example Sentences
The Mesozoic Lepidosteidae, again, have, at most, biconcave vertebrae, while the existing Lepidosteus has Salamandroid, opisthocoelous, vertebrae.
Specimen 1912VIII64 was opisthocoelous, pleurocoelous, and caudally wider than tall, as in Epachthosaurus and Pellegrinisaurus (15), and may pertain to Paralititan.
On the basis of the presence of slightly opisthocoelous vertebrae in the Enantiornithes (presumably referring to the anterior dorsals), Kurochkin (3 ) has claimed that the Enantiornithes could not have evolved heterocoelous vertebrae.
Synonyms for opisthocoelous
Depending on context, synonyms include opisthocoelian.
Related Words
Related dictionary entries include amphicoelous, amphicelous, platycoelian, heterocoelous, amphycoelous, rhachitomous.
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Sources & Attribution
FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0
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