Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The inside of the fourth upper pre-molar closely passes by the outer surface of the first lower molar, thus allowing the sharp cusps of the carnassial teeth to slice through meat. The length and size of the carnassial teeth vary between species, taking into account factors such as: [19] the size of the carnivorous animal
This calls into question the assumption that dog teeth are relatively small due to recent selection, suggesting that dog dentition is plesiomorphic from an ancestor that was smaller than the wolf. [78] The reduced body size of the early dog compared to a wolf is thought due to niche selection (Olsen 1985; Morey 1992; Coppinger & Coppinger 2001).
Wolf teeth are small, peg-like horse teeth, which sit just in front of (or rostral to) the first cheek teeth of horses and other equids. They are vestigial first premolars , [ 1 ] and the first cheek tooth is referred to as the second premolar even when wolf teeth are not present.
Sawfish (a group of rays related to guitarfish), unrelated sawsharks (a group of sharks), and the extinct sawskates (another group of rays related to modern skates) all convergently evolved a saw-like rostrum with sharp transverse teeth for hunting. [130] This evolutionary process has been named "pristification". [131]
An adult cheetah showing its long, sharp canine teeth. Teeth are common to most vertebrates , but mammalian teeth are distinctive in having a variety of shapes and functions. This feature first arose among early therapsids during the Permian , and has continued to the present day.
The suffix "-flexus / -flexid" (upper molar / lower molar) is used for the open valleys in the occlusal surfaces of the hypsodont teeth. When this valleys are enclosed, they are called fossetes/fossetids (upper molar / lower molar). Sometimes they are used also for the folds of the teeth, although the proper name for the folds is sulcus (pl ...
Also called functionalism. The Darwinian view that many or most physiological and behavioral traits of organisms are adaptations that have evolved for specific functions or for specific reasons (as opposed to being byproducts of the evolution of other traits, consequences of biological constraints, or the result of random variation). adaptive radiation The simultaneous or near-simultaneous ...
The wolves of the Iberian peninsula have morphologically distinct features from other Eurasian wolves and each are considered by their researchers to represent their own subspecies. [ 134 ] [ 135 ] The taxonomic reference Mammal Species of the World (3rd edition, 2005) does not recognize Canis lupus signatus ; however, NCBI / Genbank does list it.