Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Echinoderma" to "Edward, prince of Wales": Volume 8, Slice 10Various
Science
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Echinoderma" to "Edward, prince of Wales": Volume 8, Slice 10
Various
Encyclopedias and dictionaries
_Tubulidentata._--The second suborder of edentates, namely the
Tubulidentata, is represented at the present day only by the aard-varks,
or ant-bears, of Africa, constituting the family _Orycteropodidae_ and
the genus _Orycteropus_. Together with the following group, they differ
from the Xenarthra in the absence of additional articular facets to the
lumbar vertebrae; for which reason the term Nomarthra has been proposed
for the Tubulidentata and Pholidota as collectively distinct from the
Xenarthra. In the present group the external surface is scantily covered
with bristle-like hairs. The teeth are numerous, and traversed by a
number of parallel vertical pulp-canals. Femur with a third trochanter.
Fore-feet without the first toe, but all the other digits well
developed, with strong moderate-sized nails, suited to digging, the
plantar surfaces of which rest on the ground in walking. Hind-feet with
five subequal toes. Placenta broadly zonular. The brain is very like
that of the Ungulata; and there are two pairs of teats, one abdominal,
and the other inguinal. Aard-varks feed on animal substances; and are
terrestrial and fossorial in habits. The total number of teeth is from
eight to ten in each side of the upper, and eight in the lower jaw; but
they are never all in place at one time, as the small anterior ones are
shed before the series is completed behind. In the adult they number
usually five on each side above and below, of which the first two are
simple and compressed, the next two larger and longitudinally grooved at
the sides, the most posterior simple and cylindrical. Their summits are
rounded before they are worn; their bases do not taper to a root, but
are evenly truncated and continually growing. Each tooth is made up of
an aggregation of parallel dental systems, having a slender pulp cavity
in the centre, from which the dentinal tubes radiate outwards, and being
closely packed together each system assumes a polygonal outline as seen
in transverse section. A series of milk-teeth is developed. Skull
moderately elongated with the facial portion subcylindrical and slightly
tapering, and the zygoma complete and slender. The palate ends
posteriorly in the thickened transverse border of the palatines, and is
not continued back by the pterygoids. The tympanic is annular, and not
welded to the surrounding bones. The lower jaw is slender anteriorly,
but rises high posteriorly, with a slender recurved coronoid, and an
ascending pointed process on the hinder edge below the condyle, which is
small, oval, and looks forward as much as upwards. Vertebrae: C 7, D 13,
L 8, S 6, Ca 25. The large number of lumbar vertebrae is peculiar among
Edentates. The tongue is less worm-like than in _Myrmecophaga_, being
thick and fleshy at the base and gradually tapering to the apex. The
salivary apparatus is developed much in the same manner as in that
genus, but the duct of the submaxillary gland has no reservoir. The
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