The First Discovery of Fossil Crocodile from Central Honshû, Japan

Kobatake, Nobuo; Kamei, Tadao

doi:10.2183/pjab1945.42.264

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The fossils of the long‐snouted species from the East Asian region, T. machikanense , were described (Kobatake et al, 1965; Kobatake and Kamei, 1969), and after the description the species has been installed into the new genus Toyotamaphymeia belonging to the same evolutionary tree as Crocodylus separated from Tomistoma , Gavialis and Mecistops (Aoki, 1983). This theory was based on the difference of shape of theretroarticular process related to the insertion line of M.pterygoideus posterior.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Functional Morphology of the Masticatory Apparatus in the Long‐snouted Crocodiles

Endo

Aoki²,

Taru

et al. 2002

Anat Histol Embryol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The masticatory muscles and their related structures of the skull were observed in the Indian gavial (Gavialis gangeticus), the false gavial (Tomistoma schlegelii), and the African slender-snouted crocodile (Mecistops cataphractus) to detail some morphological differences in comparison with the other crocodile species, and to compare and elucidate the functional strategy of themasticatory apparatus in these long-snouted species. The Musculus pterygoideus posterior was relatively smaller in the three species compared with many short-snouted crocodiles. It suggests that the masticatory power in fish-eating long-snouted species is not so high as in the short-snouted crocodiles, while the masticatory muscles were morphologically different among the three long-snouted species as follows. The M. pterygoideus posterior of the false gavial was extended in the lateral side of the lower jaw unlike the Indian gavial. The M. pseudotemporalis and the Fenestra supratemporalis were largely developed in the Indian gavial, however we suggest that the other two species possess the weak bundles in this muscle. The false gavial and the African slender-snouted crocodile have the pterygoid bone well-developed extending dorso-ventrally and it is suggested that the M. adductor mandibulae posterior attached to the pterygoid bone may be much larger than the Indian gavial. These data morphologically clarify the masticatory mechanism in the long-snouted crocodiles different from the short-snouted species, and demonstrate that the evolutional strategy to share the functional role in the masticatory muscles have been differently established between the Indian gavial and the other two species. We also obtained the morphological data in the fossil skull of the Machikane crocodile (Toyotamaphymeia machikanense) and concluded from the fossil characters that the considerable developments of the M.pterygoideus posterior and the M.pseudotemporalis in this species had not morphologically been consistent with both the Indian and false gavials.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%