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Jaw movement in fossil mammals: analysis, description and visualization

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Abstract

A terminology for and visualizations of different mammalian mastication paths are provided, resulting from orientation of attritional and abrasional facets and striation on fossil (and extant) teeth. The occlusal motion of the left lower jaw is considered, and a moderate wear stage (IDAS 3) is used as standard. In contrast to conventional terminologies, the proposed nomenclature differentiates between the inclination and the direction of the lower jaw movement as projected onto a horizontal plane for each phase of the power stroke. The proposed mastication compass attempts to combine three aspects of the power stroke: (1) the number of phases, (2) the occlusal direction, and (3) the inclination of each phase. Descriptions and visualizations are given for several taxa in order to demonstrate its general applicability. The proposed new terminology and the mastication compass simplify comparisons of different modes of mastication in different mammalian taxa.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the “Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft” (DFG, German Research Foundation), and is publication no. 40 of the DFG Research Unit 771 “Function and performance enhancement in the mammalian dentition—phylogenetic and ontogenetic impact on the masticatory apparatus”. We thank all of the curators who allowed us to investigate the collections of fossil and extant dentitions in their care. We are indebted to all members of the research unit FOR 771 for their enthusiastic and fruitful discussions. We appreciate the very helpful comments of the two reviewers Alister Evans and Peter Lucas, and thank them for their careful reviews. Many thanks to Peter Göddertz for providing μCT models, and to Georg Oleschinski for photos. We are also deeply grateful to Dick Byer for his help with the English.

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  1. Steinmann-Institut für Geologie, Mineralogie und Paläontologie, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Nussallee 8, 53115, Bonn, Germany

    Wighart von Koenigswald, Ulrike Anders & Julia A. Schultz

  2. Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut Frankfurt a.M., Abteilung Paläoanthropologie und Messelforschung, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt, Germany

    Sandra Engels & Ottmar Kullmer

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  1. Wighart von Koenigswald
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Correspondence to Wighart von Koenigswald.

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Table 3 Movement of the left lower jaw during phases I and II of the power stroke, as documented by wear facets in various mammalian taxa (sequence according to McKenna and Bell 1997)
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von Koenigswald, W., Anders, U., Engels, S. et al. Jaw movement in fossil mammals: analysis, description and visualization. Paläontol Z 87, 141–159 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-012-0142-4

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