The Beaked Whales of the Family Ziphiidae: An Account of the Beaked Whales of the Family Ziphiidae in the Collection of the United States Museum...True, Frederick W. (Frederick William)
Science
The Beaked Whales of the Family Ziphiidae: An Account of the Beaked Whales of the Family Ziphiidae in the Collection of the United States Museum...
True, Frederick W. (Frederick William)
Beaked whales
The alveolar groove anterior to the tooth is very distinct throughout and
is without septa and open at the bottom. It ends distally in a rounded
aperture 6 mm. in diameter, below which are several small foramina. These
lead to a very large canal which occupies all the symphysial portion of
the mandible, the walls being comparatively thin. Behind the tooth the
alveolar groove becomes narrower gradually and disappears in a length of
about 140 mm.
The mental foramen is situated in line with the anterior base of the
tooth, and is confluent with a groove which extends forward for about 80
mm. A rather shallow groove runs along the inferior margin of the
symphysis.
The coronoid process is erect and rounded, and is joined by a horizontal
ridge anteriorly.
TEETH.
The mandibular tooth, which is shown in Pl. 2, fig. 3, is preserved on
the right side only. Its dimensions are as follows: Length anteriorly in
a straight line, 75 mm.; length from the apex to the posterior end of the
root, straight, 60; greatest antero-posterior breadth, 28; transverse
thickness, 10; height of apex above internal superior margin of jaw when
tooth is in situ,[13] 22; antero-posterior length of base of exposed
portion, 30; distance from anterior end to posterior end of root, 37;
greatest height of the exposed dentine crown, above the cement, 14;
length of the base of the dentine crown, 12.
This tooth, as already stated, is only two-thirds as broad and
three-fourths as long as that of Sowerby’s Brodie House specimen (the
type of the species), which was an adult male, and leads to the belief
that the Nantucket specimen was a female. This is in a manner confirmed
by the Rugsund specimen, which was an adult male and had teeth as large
as Sowerby’s specimen. It has to be remarked, however, that in the
Overstrand, England, specimen (1892), which was an adult female, the
teeth did not project beyond the gums. Messrs. Southwell and Harmer say
regarding it:
The jaws were apparently completely edentulous, and although it was
possible to feel through the gums a slight prominence on either side in
the position of the teeth of the male, we could not by this means
definitely satisfy ourselves with respect to this point, nor were we
able to ascertain the presence of any other rudimentary teeth in either
jaw. The evidence which exists on this subject is favourable to the
view that the female of this species is not provided with any teeth
which are large enough to pierce the gums.[14]
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