Abstract Weight support is a strong functional constraint modelling limb bones in heavy quadrupeds. However, the complex relations between bone shape, mass, size and body proportions have been poorly explored. Rhinocerotoidea is one of the groups showing the highest body mass reached by terrestrial mammals through time. Here, we explore the evolutionary variation of shape in hindlimb stylopod and zeugopod bones and its relationship with mass, size and gracility in this superfamily. Our results show that bones undergo a general increase in robustness towards high masses, associated with reinforcements of the main muscle insertions. The shape of the femur, carrying a marked phylogenetic signal, varies conjointly with mass, size and gracility, whereas that of the tibia appears related to gracility and mass only. The shape of the fibula does not vary according to that of the tibia. Moreover, congruent variation of shape between the distal part of the femur and the complete tibia underlines the potentially strong covariation of the elements constituting the knee joint. These results, coupled with those previously obtained from forelimb study, allow a better comprehension of the relationship between bone shape and mass among Rhinocerotoidea, and a refining of the concept of ‘graviportality’ in this superfamily.

中文翻译：

---

适应犀牛科的重力运动？通过后肢长骨形状变化的调查

摘要 重量支撑是对重型四足动物肢体骨骼建模的强大功能约束。然而，人们对骨骼形状、质量、大小和身体比例之间的复杂关系的探索很少。Rhinocerotoidea 是陆地哺乳动物随时间达到的最高体重的群体之一。在这里，我们探讨了后肢 stylopod 和 zeugopod 骨骼形状的进化变化及其与这个超家族的质量、大小和优雅的关系。我们的研究结果表明，骨骼对大质量的鲁棒性普遍增加，这与主要肌肉插入的增强有关。股骨的形状带有明显的系统发育信号，随着质量、大小和重量的变化而变化，而胫骨的形状似乎只与重量和重量有关。腓骨的形状不会因胫骨的形状而异。此外，股骨远端和完整胫骨之间形状的一致变化强调了构成膝关节的元素的潜在强协变。这些结果，再加上以前从前肢研究中获得的结果，可以更好地理解犀牛科中骨骼形状和质量之间的关系，并改进这个超科中“重力”的概念。