The impact of pelvic lateral rotation on hindlimb kinematics and stride length in the red-legged running frog, Kassina maculata

Collings, A J; Porro, L B; Hill, C; Richards, C T

Abstract

Some frog species, such as Kassina maculata (red-legged running frog), use an asynchronous walking/running gait as their primary locomotor mode. Prior comparative anatomy work has suggested that lateral rotation of the pelvis improves walking performance by increasing hindlimb stride length; however, this hypothesis has never been tested. Using non-invasive methods, experimental high-speed video data collected from eight animals were used to create two three-dimensional kinematic models. These models, each fixed to alternative local anatomical reference frames, were used to investigate the hypothesis that lateral rotation of the mobile ilio-sacral joint in the anuran pelvis plays a propulsive role in walking locomotion by increasing hindlimb stride length. All frogs used a walking gait (duty factor greater than 0.5) despite travelling over a range of speeds (0.04–0.23 m s−1). The hindlimb joint motions throughout a single stride were temporally synchronized with lateral rotation of the pelvis. The pelvis itself, on average, underwent an angular excursion of 12.71° (±4.39°) with respect to the body midline during lateral rotation. However, comparison between our two kinematic models demonstrated that lateral rotation of the pelvis only increases the cranio-caudal excursion of the hindlimb modestly. Thus, we propose that pelvic lateral rotation is not a stride length augmenting mechanism in K. maculata.

Citation

Collings, A. J., Porro, L. B., Hill, C., & Richards, C. T. (2019). The impact of pelvic lateral rotation on hindlimb kinematics and stride length in the red-legged running frog, Kassina maculata. Royal Society Open Science, 6, 190060. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.190060

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 3, 2019
• Publication Date: May 8, 2019
• Deposit Date: May 18, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: May 20, 2019
• Journal: Royal Society Open Science
• Publisher: The Royal Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Pages: 190060
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.190060
• Public URL: https://rvc-repository.worktribe.com/output/1382392