Brocklehurst, RJ;
Crumpton, N;
Button, E;
Asher, RJ;
(2016)
Jaw anatomy of Potamogale velox (Tenrecidae, Afrotheria) with a focus on cranial arteries and the coronoid canal in mammals.
PeerJ
, 4
, Article e1906. 10.7717/peerj.1906.
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Abstract
Afrotheria is a strongly supported clade within placental mammals, but morphological synapomorphies for the entire group have only recently come to light. Soft tissue characters represent an underutilized source of data for phylogenetic analysis, but nonetheless provide features shared by some or all members of Afrotheria. Here, we investigate the developmental anatomy of Potamogale velox (Tenrecidae) with histological and computerized tomographic data at different ontogenetic ages, combined with osteological data from other mammals, to investigate patterns of cranial arterial supply and the distribution of the coronoid canal. Potamogale is atypical among placental mammals in exhibiting a small superior stapedial artery, a primary supply of the posterior auricular by the posterior stapedial artery, and the development of vascular plexuses (possibly with relevance for heat exchange) in the posterior and dorsal regions of its neck. In addition, the posterior aspect of Meckel's cartilage increases its medial deflection in larger embryonic specimens as the mandibular condyle extends mediolaterally during embryogenesis. We also map the distribution of the coronoid canal across mammals, and discuss potential confusion of this feature with alveoli of the posterior teeth. The widespread distribution of the coronoid canal among living and fossil proboscideans, sirenians, and hyracoids supports previous interpretations that a patent coronoid canal is a synapomorphy of paenungulates, but not afrotherians as a whole.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Jaw anatomy of Potamogale velox (Tenrecidae, Afrotheria) with a focus on cranial arteries and the coronoid canal in mammals |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.7717/peerj.1906 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1906 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2016 Brocklehurst et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited. |
| Keywords: | Afrotheria, Arteries, Coronoid canal, Mandible, Ontogeny, Paenungulata, Soft tissues |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1479992 |
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