The Vertebrate SkeletonReynolds, Sidney H. (Sidney Hugh)
Science
The Vertebrate Skeleton
Reynolds, Sidney H. (Sidney Hugh)
Skeleton
_PERISSODACTYLA._ In the skull of Perissodactyles an alisphenoid canal
is found and the nasals are expanded behind. Among the living animals
belonging to this group the skull least modified from the ordinary
type is that in _Rhinoceros_. In this form the skull is considerably
elongated, the facial portion being very large. The occipital region
is elevated, but the cranial cavity is small, the boundary line
between the occipital and parietal regions being drawn out into a
prominent crest, which is occupied by air cells. There is no
postorbital process to the frontal, and the orbit is completely
confluent with the temporal fossa. The nasals are fused together and
are very strongly developed, extending far forwards, sometimes
considerably beyond the premaxillae. In some extinct species, such as
_Elasmotherium_ and the Tichorhine Rhinoceros, _R. antiquitatis_, the
mesethmoid is ossified as far forwards as the end of the nasals. The
nasals are arched and bear one or two roughened surfaces to which the
great nasal horns are attached. The premaxillae are very small and the
pterygoids are slender. The palate is long, narrow, and deeply
excavated behind. The postglenoid process of the squamosal is well
developed, and generally longer than the paroccipital process of the
exoccipital. The tympanic and periotic are both small and are fused
together. The condyle of the mandible is very wide, the angle rounded,
and the coronoid process moderately developed.
In the Titanotheriidae, a family of extinct Perissodactyla from the
Miocene of North America, the occipital region is much elevated, as is
also the fronto-nasal region, the nasals (perhaps only in the male)
bearing a pair of blunt bony outgrowths. Between these two elevated
regions the skull is much depressed. The cranial cavity is very small,
the orbit confluent with the temporal fossa, and the zygomatic arch
massive.
In _Tapirus_ the orbit and temporal fossa are confluent. The nasals
are small, wide behind and pointed in front, and are supported by the
mesethmoid; the anterior nares are exceedingly large and their lateral
boundaries are entirely formed by the maxillae. The postglenoid and
post-tympanic processes of the squamosal are large. The periotic is
not fused to the squamosal or to the small tympanic. The mandible is
large and has the angle much developed and somewhat inflected.
_Palaeotherium_, which lived in early Tertiary times, has a skull much
like that of the Tapir, especially as regards the nasal bones.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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