saltatorial

Animals that leap and bound when they run have what is called a "saltatorial gait."

The most interesting characteristic of the meadow jumping mouse is its saltatorial powers.

Like modern squirrels, it probably moved in a saltatorial manner as it climbed.

The hypothesis of saltatorial locomotion is debated, however.

This led to his paper on the saltatorial Orthoptera of Socotra, and the first systematic description of its vegetation.

The postcranial skeleton does not appear to have any unique specializations that might be associated with a fossorial, arboreal, or saltatorial way of life.

"The saltatorial Orthoptera of Socotra" Zool.

In most Orthoptera the hind legs are saltatorial; they have heavily bipennately muscled femora and straight, long tibiae adapted to leaping and to some extent to defence by kicking.

As adaptive radiation took place in the class Aves, some birds, the Bombycillidae included, became more and more adapted for an arboreal, and eventually an aerial habitat, with consequent loss of saltatorial and running ability.

In the saltatorial Orthoptera, and in beetles of the subfamilies Halticinae and Sagrinae, the hind femora are greatly enlarged in order to accommodate the powerful extensor muscles which are used in leaping.

For example, gressorial and cursorial, or walking and running type insects respectively, usually have well-developed femora and tibiae on all legs, whereas jumping (saltatorial) insects such as grasshoppers have disproportionately developed hind femora and tibiae.

In some Muridae the hallux is clawless and fully opposable, including arboreal species such as Hapalomys, Chiropodomys, Vandeleuria, and Chiromyscus; and saltatorial, bipedal species such as Notomys and possibly some Gerbillinae.

Most recent studies about its gait suggest that it engaged in kangaroo- or springhare-like plantigrade hopping; if Scleromochlus is indeed related to pterosaurs, this may offer insight as to how the latter evolved, since early pterosaurs also show adaptations for saltatorial locomotion.

Other beetles with spectacularly muscular hind femora may not be saltatorial at all, but very clumsy; for example, particular species of Bruchinae use their swollen hind legs for forcing their way out of the hard-shelled seeds of plants such as Erythrina in which they grew to adulthood.

In most insects the femur is the largest region of the leg; it is especially conspicuous in many insects with saltatorial legs because the typical leaping mechanism is to straighten the joint between the femur and the tibia, and the femur contains the necessary massive bipennate musculature.