Angular Bone
The angular is a large bone in the lower jaw (mandible) of amphibians and reptiles (birds included), which is connected to all other lower jaw bones: the dentary (which is the entire lower jaw in mammals), the splenial, the suprangular, and the articular. It is homologous to the tympanic bone in mammals, due to the incorporation of several jaw bones into the mammalian middle ear early in mammal evolution. In therapsids (mammal ancestors and their kin), the lower jaw is made up of the dentary (the mandible in mammals) and a group of smaller "postdentary" bones near the jaw joint. As the dentary increased in size over millions of years, two of these postdentary bones, the articular and angular, became increasingly reduced and the dentary eventually made direct contact with the upper jaw. These postdentary bones, even before their articular function was lost, probably transmitted sound vibrations to the stapes and, in some therapsids, a bent plate that might have supported a memb ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Proceratosaurus Bradleyi Skull Reconstruction (alt)
''Proceratosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived during the Middle Jurassic in what is now England. The holotype and only known specimen consists of a mostly complete skull with an accompanying lower jaw and a bone, found near Minchinhampton, a town in Gloucestershire. It was originally described as a species of ''Megalosaurus'' in 1910, ''M. bradleyi'', but was moved to its own genus, ''Proceratosaurus'', in 1926. The genus was named for its supposed close relationship with ''Ceratosaurus,'' later shown to be erroneous, due to perceived resemblance of ''Proceratosaurus''' incomplete cranial crest to ''Ceratosaurus nasal horn. A small to medium-sized dinosaur, the skull of ''Proceratosaurus'' is long as preserved, and the dinosaur is estimated to have measured around in length. The skull is characterised by a number of distinguishing features, including a cranial crest that begins at the junction between the and the nasal bone. The teeth are heterodont, ha ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Suprangular
The surangular or suprangular is a jaw bone found in most land vertebrates, except mammals. Usually in the back of the jaw, on the upper edge, it is connected to all other jaw bones: dentary, angular, splenial and articular. It is often a muscle attachment site. It has been noted in dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...s. References Skull bones {{Vertebrate anatomy-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ectotympanic
The ectotympanic, or tympanicum, is a bony structure found in all mammals, located on the tympanic part of the temporal bone, which holds the tympanic membrane (eardrum) in place. In catarrhine primates (including humans), it takes a tube-shape. Its position and attachment to the skull vary between primates, and can be either inside or outside the auditory bulla. It is homologous with the angular bone of non-mammalian tetrapods A tetrapod (; from Ancient Greek τετρα- ''(tetra-)'' 'four' and πούς ''(poús)'' 'foot') is any four- limbed vertebrate animal of the clade Tetrapoda (). Tetrapods include all extant and extinct amphibians and amniotes, with the lat .... When the latter is present, it contacts the entotympanic. References External links webref: Anthropology * * Skull bones Mammal anatomy {{Vertebrate anatomy-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mandible
In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone is the skull's only movable, posable bone, sharing Temporomandibular joint, joints with the cranium's temporal bones. The mandible hosts the lower Human tooth, teeth (their depth delineated by the alveolar process). Many muscles attach to the bone, which also hosts nerves (some connecting to the teeth) and blood vessels. Amongst other functions, the jawbone is essential for chewing food. Owing to the Neolithic Revolution, Neolithic advent of agriculture (), human jaws evolved to be Human jaw shrinkage, smaller. Although it is the strongest bone of the facial skeleton, the mandible tends to deform in old age; it is also subject to Mandibular fracture, fracturing. Surgery allows for the removal of jawbone fragments (or its entirety) as well a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Therapsida
Therapsida is a clade comprising a major group of eupelycosaurian synapsids that includes mammals and their ancestors and close relatives. Many of the traits today seen as unique to mammals had their origin within early therapsids, including limbs that were oriented more underneath the body, resulting in a more "standing" quadrupedal posture, as opposed to the lower sprawling posture of many reptiles and amphibians. Therapsids evolved from earlier synapsids commonly called " pelycosaurs", specifically within the Sphenacodontia, more than 279.5 million years ago. They replaced the pelycosaurs as the dominant large land animals in the Guadalupian through to the Early Triassic. In the aftermath of the Permian–Triassic extinction event, therapsids declined in relative importance to the rapidly diversifying archosaurian sauropsids (pseudosuchians, dinosaurs and pterosaurs, etc.) during the Middle Triassic. The therapsids include the cynodonts, the group that gave rise to mammal ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Evolution Of Mammalian Auditory Ossicles
The evolution of mammalian auditory ossicles was an evolutionary process that resulted in the formation of the mammalian middle ear, where the three middle ear bones or ossicles, namely the incus, malleus and stapes (a.k.a. "the anvil, hammer, and stirrup"), are a defining characteristic of mammals. The event is well-documented and important academically as a demonstration of transitional fossil, transitional forms and exaptation, the re-purposing of existing structures during evolution. The ossicles evolved from skull bones present in most tetrapods, including amphibians, sauropsids (which include extant taxon, extant reptiles and birds) and early synapsids (which include ancestors of mammals). The reptilian quadrate bone, quadrate, articular bone, articular and columella (auditory system), columella bones are homologs of the mammalian incus, malleus and stapes, respectively. In reptiles (and early synapsids by association), the eardrum is connected to the inner ear via a single ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tympanic Bone
The tympanic part of the temporal bone is a curved plate of bone lying below the squamous part of the temporal bone, in front of the mastoid process, and surrounding the external part of the ear canal. It originates as a separate bone (tympanic bone), which in some mammals stays separate through life. Evolutionarily, a portion of it is derived from the angular bone of the reptilian lower jaw. Surfaces Its postero-superior surface is concave, and forms the anterior wall, the floor, and part of the posterior wall of the bony ear canal. Medially, it presents a narrow furrow, the ''tympanic sulcus'', for the attachment of the tympanic membrane. Its antero-inferior surface is quadrilateral and slightly concave; it constitutes the posterior boundary of the mandibular fossa, and is in contact with the retromandibular part of the parotid gland. Borders Its lateral border is free and rough, and gives attachment to the cartilaginous part of the ear canal. Internally, the tympani ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Homology (biology)
In biology, homology is similarity in anatomical structures or genes between organisms of different taxa due to shared ancestry, ''regardless'' of current functional differences. Evolutionary biology explains homologous structures as retained heredity from a common descent, common ancestor after having been subjected to adaptation (biology), adaptive modifications for different purposes as the result of natural selection. The term was first applied to biology in a non-evolutionary context by the anatomist Richard Owen in 1843. Homology was later explained by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution in 1859, but had been observed before this from Aristotle's biology onwards, and it was explicitly analysed by Pierre Belon in 1555. A common example of homologous structures is the forelimbs of vertebrates, where the bat wing development, wings of bats and origin of avian flight, birds, the arms of primates, the front flipper (anatomy), flippers of whales, and the forelegs of quadrupedalis ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Articular
The articular bone is part of the lower jaw of most vertebrates, including most jawed fish, amphibians, birds and various kinds of reptiles, as well as ancestral mammals. Anatomy In most vertebrates, the articular bone is connected to two other lower jaw bones, the suprangular and the angular. Developmentally, it originates from the embryonic mandibular cartilage. The most caudal portion of the mandibular cartilage ossifies to form the articular bone, while the remainder of the mandibular cartilage either remains cartilaginous or disappears. In snakes In snakes, the articular, surangular, and prearticular bones have fused to form the compound bone. The mandible is suspended from the quadrate bone and articulates at this compound bone. Function In amphibians and reptiles In most tetrapods, the articular bone forms the lower portion of the jaw joint. The upper jaw articulates at the quadrate bone. In mammals In mammals, the articular bone evolves to form the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Splenial
The splenial is a small bone in the lower jaw of reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...s, amphibians and birds, usually located on the lingual side (closest to the tongue) between the angular bone, angular and surangular.Watson, D. M. S. (1912). LXVII.—On some reptilian lower jaws. Journal of Natural History, 10(60), 573-587. References Skull bones {{Vertebrate anatomy-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dimetrodon Skull Lateral
''Dimetrodon'' ( or ; ) is an extinct genus of sphenacodontid synapsid that lived during the Cisuralian (Early Permian) epoch of the Permian period, around 295–272 million years ago. With most species measuring long and weighing , the most prominent feature of ''Dimetrodon'' is the large neural spine sail on its back formed by elongated spines extending from the vertebrae. It was an obligate quadruped (it could walk only on four legs) and had a tall, curved skull with large teeth of different sizes set along the jaws. Most fossils have been found in the Southwestern United States, the majority of these coming from a geological deposit called the Red Beds of Texas and Oklahoma. More recently, its fossils have also been found in Germany and over a dozen species have been named since the genus was first erected in 1878. ''Dimetrodon'' is often mistaken for a dinosaur or portrayed as a contemporary of dinosaurs in popular culture, but it became extinct by the middle Permi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mammals
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle ear bones. These characteristics distinguish them from reptiles and birds, from which their ancestors diverged in the Carboniferous Period over 300 million years ago. Around 6,640 extant species of mammals have been described and divided into 27 orders. The study of mammals is called mammalogy. The largest orders of mammals, by number of species, are the rodents, bats, and eulipotyphlans (including hedgehogs, moles and shrews). The next three are the primates (including humans, monkeys and lemurs), the even-toed ungulates (including pigs, camels, and whales), and the Carnivora (including cats, dogs, and seals). Mammals are the only living members of Synapsida; this clade, together with Sauropsida (reptiles and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |