On the Jaw Mechanism of the Snail-Crushing Lizards, Dracaena Daudin 1802 (Reptilia, Lacertilia, Teiidae)

Dalrymple, George H.

doi:10.2307/1563324

Cited by 62 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…However, in durophagous animals it is also important to maintain functional tooth sites, which should reduce the rate of tooth replacement (Dalrymple, 1979). This strategy of reducing the rate of tooth replacement to prolong individual tooth function should constrain tooth morphology, favoring tooth morphologies that will be less likely to break.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finite element modeling of occlusal variation in durophagous tooth systems

Crofts

2015

Journal of Experimental Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In addition to breaking hard prey items, the teeth of durophagous predators must also resist failure under high loads. To understand the effects of morphology on tooth resistance to failure, finite element models were used to examine differences in total strain energy (J), first principal strain and the distribution of strains in a diversity of canonical durophagous tooth morphologies. By changing the way loads were applied to the models, I was also able to model the effects of large and small prey items. Tooth models with overall convex morphologies have higher in-model strains than those with a flat or concave occlusal surface. When a cusp is added to the tooth model, taller or thinner cusps increase in-model strain. While there is little difference in the relationships between tooth morphology and strain measurements for most models, there is a marked difference between effects of the large and small prey loads on the concave and flat tooth morphologies. Comparing these data with measurements of force required by these same morphologies to break prey items illustrates functional trade-offs between the need to prevent tooth failure under high loads by minimizing in-tooth strain versus the drive to reduce the total applied force.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finite element modeling of occlusal variation in durophagous tooth systems

Crofts

2015

Journal of Experimental Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The first teeth are peg-like, and the posterior ones have a broad base. These have been variously described as "subpleurodont" (Dalrymple 1979), "subacrodont or acrodont" (McLean 1974), "molariform" (Estes and Williams 1984;Schwenk 2000), or "amblyodont" (Hoffstetter 1944;Rage 1987). However, they clearly constitute a modified type of pleurodont dentition with replacement, albeit at a reduced rate (Edmund 1969;Müller 2004).…”

Section: Dentarymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some dietary strategies seem to promote strong adaptive modifications in the skull and in the teeth. Lizard species that consume hard food items (durophagy), such as shelled molluscs, tend to form amblyodont teeth at the back of the tooth row (Lönnberg 1903;Peyer 1929;Dalrymple 1979;Rieppel 1979;Edmund 1969;Estes and Williams 1984;Schwenk 2000). Keeping to this theme, Müller (2004) has thoroughly discussed the functional interpretation of the peculiar anatomy of Dracaenosaurus croizeti.…”

Section: Dietary Specialization and Adaptive Radiationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fossil lizards from the locality of Gannat (late Oligocene–early Miocene, France) and a revision of the genus Pseudeumeces (Squamata, Lacertidae)

Augé

Hervet²

2009

Palaeobio Palaeoenv

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Pseudeumeces is a distinct lacertid lizard that is known from one species, P. cadurcensis (Filhol). Two species, Ligerosaurus pouiti and "Pseudeumeces" walbeckensis, previously referred to Pseudeumeces, do not belong to this genus. Pseudeumeces cadurcensis is characterized by a heterodont dentition, including large, posterior, crushing teeth on both the maxilla and dentary. Pseudeumeces differs from the Oligocene lacertid lizards Lacerta s.l. filholi and Mediolacerta that have non-expanded, bi-or tricuspid teeth. Dracaenosaurus, an Oligocene lacertid lizard, also possesses crushing, posterior teeth, but its teeth and jaw are much heavier than in those of Pseudeumeces. New specimens from Gannat document cranial elements previously unknown, i.e. frontal and parietal. Pseudeumeces is known with certainty from the early Oligocene (MP25) to the early Miocene (MN1). Notable features of Pseudeumeces (firm lateral contact between the coronoid and the dentary; strongly curved mandibule; tooth morphology and tooth number reduction) corroborate the previous assumption that this lacertid lizard was probably durophagous. Four Oligocene European lacertid lizards form a morphological and chronological series, but the common ancestry of these species has not been definitively proved.

show abstract

“…Also, many modern and fossil taxa are know to have multiple cusps that superficially resemble mammalian teeth and may have served in insectivory or even herbivory (Clark et al 1989;Wu and Sues 1996;Larsson and Sidor 1999;Buckley et al 2000;Nydam et al 2000;Pol 2003;Osi et al 2007). This diversity of cusp morphologies clearly shows some selective pressure for enhancing the use of teeth on food processing, as many modern taxa with more complex crown morphologies (such as Dracaena and Tupinambis) teeth have been observed using these teeth for molar-like purposes (Dalrymple 1979).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A large archosauriform tooth with multiple supernumerary carinae from the Upper Triassic of New Mexico (USA), with comments on carina development and anomalies in the Archosauria

Beatty

Heckert

2009

Historical Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Here we report a tooth of a large archosauriform from the Upper Triassic of New Mexico, USA that displays developmental anomalies of carina formation. This tooth has two supernumerary carinae, both on the lingual side of the tooth. Previously, carina anomalies of this sort were primarily known from theropod dinosaurs, but always from the labial surface. Integrating this specimen into a reassessment of the published accounts of carina anomalies in other fossil diapsids reveals that supernumerary carinae are more widespread throughout Archosauriformes than previously reported. Our interpretation of this developmental anomaly highlights the present lack of understanding of tooth development in archosaurs, particularly carina formation, and suggests that crown morphology development in archosauriforms may be constrained differently than it is in mammals. This developmental constraint may explain the differences observed between the complexity found in mammal and archosauriform cusp morphology.

show abstract

On the Jaw Mechanism of the Snail-Crushing Lizards, Dracaena Daudin 1802 (Reptilia, Lacertilia, Teiidae)

Cited by 62 publications

References 12 publications

Finite element modeling of occlusal variation in durophagous tooth systems

Finite element modeling of occlusal variation in durophagous tooth systems

Fossil lizards from the locality of Gannat (late Oligocene–early Miocene, France) and a revision of the genus Pseudeumeces (Squamata, Lacertidae)

A large archosauriform tooth with multiple supernumerary carinae from the Upper Triassic of New Mexico (USA), with comments on carina development and anomalies in the Archosauria

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About