arctometatarsal

File:T. rex versus A. atrox feet.JPG foot showing the compressed arctometatarsalian condition of the middle metatarsal, compared to that of Allosaurus]]

An arctometatarsalian organism is one in which the proximal part of the middle metatarsal is pinched between the surrounding metatarsals. The trait appears to be highly homoplastic, common in certain sorts of dinosaurs accustomed to running (among them the tyrannosauroids, ornithomimosaurs, and troodontids), to evenly transmit force to the metatarsals.{{cite web|url=http://www.bio.ucalgary.ca/contact/faculty/pdf/russell/274.pdf |title=Evolutionary morphology of the coelurosaurian arctometatarsus: descriptive, morphometric and phylogenetic approaches |accessdate=2009-10-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706210837/http://www.bio.ucalgary.ca/contact/faculty/pdf/russell/274.pdf |archivedate=2011-07-06 }}Snively, E. (2000). [http://dspace.ucalgary.ca/bitstream/1880/40646/1/64980Snively.pdf Functional morphology of the tyrannosaurid arctometatarsus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160723234039/http://dspace.ucalgary.ca/bitstream/1880/40646/1/64980Snively.pdf |date=2016-07-23 }}. University of Calgary.