... of one aquatic family, all have an at least partly fossorial lifestyle. It has been suggested that caecilian evolution resulted in sturdy and compact skulls with fused bones and tight sutures, as an adaptation to their head-first burrowing habits. However, although their cranial osteology is well...

..., the loss of the postorbital bar is associated with changes in skull shape, but the mechanical principles underlying this variation remain poorly understood. Here, we sought to determine how the overall cranial architecture and the presence of the postorbital bar relate to the loading and deformation...

... and estimated bite force are stronger for the mandible, which probably reflects its greater specialisation towards biting. We then compared our results with data previously obtained for dogs ( Canis lupus familiaris ) to investigate the effect of domestication. Foxes and dogs differ in skull shape and muscle...

... , morphotype and age estimations To test for the effect of the morphotype (brachycephalic, mesocephalic or dolichocephalic), the cephalic index (CI) was calculated following Roberts et al. (2010) : skull width/skull length×100 ( Fig. 1 ). Skull width was measured between the two zygomatic arches...

... of the upper and lower jaw cartilages (ankylosis). Despite lacking jaw joints, nkx3.2 mutants survived to adulthood and accommodated this defect by: (a) having a remodeled skull with a fixed open gape, reduced snout and enlarged branchial region; and (b) performing ram feeding in the absence of jaw-generated...

...Alec T. Wilken; Kevin M. Middleton; Kaleb C. Sellers; Ian N. Cost; Casey M. Holliday ABSTRACT Numerous vertebrates exhibit cranial kinesis, or movement between bones of the skull and mandible other than at the jaw joint. Many kinetic species possess a particular suite of features to accomplish...

...Callum F. Ross; Laura B. Porro; Anthony Herrel; Susan E. Evans; Michael J. Fagan ABSTRACT In vivo bone strain data provide direct evidence of strain patterns in the cranium during biting. Compared with those in mammals, in vivo bone strains in lizard skulls are poorly documented. This paper...

...Laura B. Porro; Callum F. Ross; Jose Iriarte-Diaz; James C. O'Reilly; Susan E. Evans; Michael J. Fagan In vivo bone strain data are the most direct evidence of deformation and strain regimes in the vertebrate cranium during feeding and can provide important insights into skull morphology. Strain...

... by their relatively larger jaw muscle mass and a difference in husking technique. However, the effect of differences in skull geometry on bite force is unclear. In this study differences in skull morphology that may contribute to the difference in bite force between fringillids and estrildids are analyzed. The shape...

... suture morphology in fossil taxa. To this end, strain gauges were surgically implanted across selected sutures in the skull roof of four individuals of Polypterus endlicherii . After surgery, bone and suture strains during feeding were recorded along with high-speed video of the feeding events. Each...

... response to thyroid hormone. This study describes larval development in left-sided, right-sided and bilaterally symmetric variants of southern flounder ( Paralichthys lethostigma ). Behavior and skull asymmetries precede metamorphosis, and the development of lateralized behaviors was independent of eye...

...Susan W. Herring; Scott C. Pedersen; Xiaofeng Huang SUMMARY At the time of weaning, infant animals have little experience with hard food, and thus their skulls are not likely to be epigenetically adapted for the loads imposed by mastication. We examined bone strain in the zygomatic arch of 4-week...

... © 2000 by Company of Biologists 2000 mastication bone strain bone growth skull miniature swine Despite advances in techniques for studying in vivo biomechanics, our understanding of how the face and cranium are loaded during masticatory function is still largely incomplete...