tarsometatarsus

American  

[tahr-soh-met-uh-tahr-suhs] / ˌtɑr soʊˌmɛt əˈtɑr səs /

noun

Ornithology.

plural

tarsometatarsi

1. the large bone in the lower leg of a bird with which the toe bones articulate, formed by the fusion of tarsal and metatarsal bones.

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tarsometatarsus British  

/ ˌtɑːsəʊˌmɛtəˈtɑːsəs /

noun

1. a bone in the lower part of a bird's leg consisting of the metatarsal bones and some of the tarsal bones fused together

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Other Word Forms

• tarsometatarsal adjective

Etymology

Origin of tarsometatarsus

First recorded in 1850–55; tarso- + metatarsus

Example Sentences

Researchers study owl fossils by looking at the shapes of their bones, including their tarsometatarsus, Smith said in an interview with LiveScience.

From Fox News

A mammalian convergence on the avian tarsometatarsus.

From Scientific American

In penguins, the tarsometatarsi is very distinct; it is extremely short and broad, as if someone took a heron’s tarsometatarsus, cut out the long bit in the middle and glued the top and bottom together again.

From The Guardian

But even within penguins, the shape of the tarsometatarsus varies.

From The Guardian

This shows that the typical penguin tarsometatarsus morphology evolved more rapidly than we thought.

From The Guardian