Diagnosis of diseases of bone, without benefit of soft tissue, in vivo observation, or blood component analysis requires the development of new criteria for diagnosis. Analyzing chimpanzee skeletal populations, applying such criteria (e.g., lesion…
Analyses of New World skeletal populations for the presence of erosions an other osseous alterations and their character, distribution, and radiologic appearance shows that osteoarthritis is predominantly a disease of animals raised in artificially…
Bone pathology provides a window to environment and predation, allowing confident comparison of fossils and subfossils with their modern descendents. Exclusive of modern contaminated environments, the frequency of bone disease in frogs does not seem…
Sixty skeletons of Callithrix jacchus were examined to identify spondy-loarthropathy. Erosive disease in Callithrix was confirmed as spondy-loarthropathy on the basis of diagnostic sacroiliac erosions, syndesmophyte formation, and the nature and…
As the study of bone disease in recent and fossil amphibians and reptiles has evolved from observational speculation to analysis of testable hypotheses, so too has recognition of its contribution to our understanding of diseases and organisms. Given…
The first mammalian metapodial (MP1) has periodically been argued to actually be a phalanx, because the first ray has one less element than the four posterior rays, and because the MP1 growth plate is proximal like those of all phalanges, rather than…
Mammalian metapodials (metacarpals and metatarsals), unlike most long bones, form a single growth plate, and undergo longitudinal growth at only one end. The growth dynamics of non-mammalian tetrapod metapodials have not been systematically examined…
The marsupial middle ear performs an anatomical impedance matching for acoustic energy travelling in air to reach the cochlea. The size of the middle ear sets constraints for the frequencies transmitted. For generalized placental mammals, it has been…
In odontocetes the mandibular bone serves two functions: to capture prey, and as a means of the reception and transmission of sound waves through a fat body in the mandibular canal, which opens posteriorly as the mandibular foramen. The posterior…
Cytochrome P450s are enzymes involved in the oxidative metabolism of numerous endogenous and exogenous molecules. The enzyme cytochrome debrisoquine/sparteine-type monoxygenase is a specific form of cytochrome P450 and is found in the liver and the…
The hypothesis that flower shape affects nectar-feeding performance was examined for the nectarivorous bat, Syconycteris australis. Experiments using feeders with artificial flowers of different diameters demonstrated that the narrow flower diameter…
In this paper we studied three related aspects of the ontogeny of the vertebral centrum of cetaceans and terrestrial mammals in an evolutionary context. We determined patterns of ontogenetic fusion of the vertebral epiphyses in bowhead whale (Balaena…
The ability of some mammals to forage on vines or terminal branches depends upon their grasping extremities. This study tests the functional link between use of small-diameter supports and grasping abilities by comparing hand and foot proportions in…
Movement control in vertebrates is a complex function that is known to involve several parallel systems. In amphibians, which lack the isocortical structures shown in mammals to initiate and control voluntary movements, supraspinal motor control…
