Insights into the Ecology and Evolutionary Success of Crocodilians Revealed through Bite-Force and Tooth-Pressure Experimentation
- G. Erickson, P. Gignac, G. Webb
- BiologyPLoS ONE
- 14 March 2012
It is demonstrated that crocodilian reptiles generate the highest bite forces and tooth pressures known for any living animals.
Diffusible iodine‐based contrast‐enhanced computed tomography (diceCT): an emerging tool for rapid, high‐resolution, 3‐D imaging of metazoan soft tissues
A critical review of the recent contributions to iodine‐based, contrast‐enhanced CT research is provided to enable researchers just beginning to employ contrast enhancement to make sense of this complex new landscape of methodologies.
Iodine-enhanced micro-CT imaging: methodological refinements for the study of the soft-tissue anatomy of post-embryonic vertebrates.
This study systematically quantify the intensities of tissue staining, demonstrate the range of anatomical structures that can be visualized, and generate a partial three-dimensional reconstruction of alligator cephalic soft-tissue anatomy.
Ontogenetic changes in jaw-muscle architecture facilitate durophagy in the turtle Sternotherus minor
- J. B. Pfaller, P. Gignac, G. Erickson
- BiologyJournal of Experimental Biology
- 15 May 2011
The results indicate the importance of muscle pennation for generating high bite forces while maintaining muscle size and provide empirical evidence that the allometric patterns of musculoskeletal growth in S. minor are strongly linked to the structural properties of their primary prey.
Ontogenetic bite‐force modeling of Alligator mississippiensis: implications for dietary transitions in a large‐bodied vertebrate and the evolution of crocodylian feeding
- P. Gignac, G. Erickson
- Biology, Environmental Science
- 1 August 2016
It is argued that the findings of this study are broadly applicable to crown Crocodylia and reflect an important, but often overlooked, aspect of the crocodylian feeding ecomorphology: littoral, sit-and-wait predation is enhanced by posteroventrally displaced, exceptionally large, and forceful ventral pterygoideus muscles, in particular.
The Biomechanics Behind Extreme Osteophagy in Tyrannosaurus rex
- P. Gignac, G. Erickson
- Environmental Science, GeographyScientific Reports
- 17 May 2017
It is shown that bone pulverization was made possible through a combination of prodigious bite forces and tooth pressures promoting crack propagation in bones, and repetitive, localized biting, which allowed T. rex to finely fragment bones and more fully exploit large dinosaur carcasses for sustenance relative to competing carnivores.
NEONTOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF PELVIC SKELETAL ATTRIBUTES PURPORTED TO REFLECT SEX IN EXTINCT NON-AVIAN ARCHOSAURS
- A. Prieto-mÁrquez, P. Gignac, S. Joshi
- Environmental Science
- 12 September 2007
Testing for the presence of pelvic osteological correlates of sex in extant archosaurs was conducted, using skeletons of wild-caught A. mississippiensis as a neontological model and results indicate that there is sexual dimorphism in the proportions of the pelvic canal in A.mississipiensis, with females typically having deeper pelvic canals than males.
A Description of Deinonychus antirrhopus Bite Marks and Estimates of Bite Force using Tooth Indentation Simulations
- P. Gignac, P. Makovicky, G. Erickson, R. Walsh
- Geography
- 13 July 2010
ABSTRACT We report the discovery of a specimen of Tenontosaurus tilletti from the Cloverly Formation that bears lesions we interpret as bite marks of Deinonychus antirrhopus. Some of the bite marks…
Best practices for digitally constructing endocranial casts: examples from birds and their dinosaurian relatives
- A. Balanoff, G. S. Bever, L. Witmer
- BiologyJournal of Anatomy
- 1 August 2016
The purpose here is to outline preferred approaches for acquiring digital tomographic data, converting those data to an endocast, and making those endocasts as meaningful as possible when considered in a comparative context.
Ontogenetic changes in dental form and tooth pressures facilitate developmental niche shifts in American alligators
- P. Gignac, G. Erickson
- Biology
- 1 February 2015
This study derives absolute values of tooth pressure along the crowns of the most prominent teeth and shows that these pressures increase with positive allometry during ontogeny, and discusses how American alligator tooth-pressure values explain their capacities for seizure and oral processing of typical prey.
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