Cranial performance in the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) as revealed by high-resolution 3-D finite element analysis

Journal of Anatomy

Volumn 212, Issue 6, 2008, Pages 736-746

  Moreno, Karen ^a   Wroe, Stephen ^a   Clausen, Philip ^b   McHenry, Colin ^a,b,c   D'Amore, Domenic C ^d   Rayfield, Emily J ^e   Cunningham, Eleanor ^f  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES   (Australia)

^b UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE   (Australia)

^c UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE   (Australia)

^d RUTGERS UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^e UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL   (United Kingdom)

^f NEWCASTLE MATER HOSPITAL   (Australia)

Author keywords

Behaviour; Feeding ecology; Finite element; Varanus komodoensis

Indexed keywords

ANIMAL TISSUE; ARTICLE; DINOSAUR; DISSECTION; EXTINCT SPECIES; FEEDING; FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS; IN VIVO STUDY; JAW MUSCLE; LIZARD; MALE; MECHANICAL STRESS; MORPHOLOGY; NONHUMAN; PREDATOR; PREY; PRIORITY JOURNAL; SKULL;

ANIMALS; BIOMECHANICS; BITE FORCE; COMPUTER SIMULATION; FACIAL BONES; FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS; IMAGING, THREE-DIMENSIONAL; LIZARDS; MALE; MASTICATION; MODELS, ANATOMIC; PREDATORY BEHAVIOR; SKULL;

DINOSAURIA; SQUAMATA; VARANUS KOMODOENSIS;

EID: 44649119191     PISSN: 00218782     EISSN: 14697580     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2008.00899.x     Document Type: Article

References (50)

1. Akersten WA (1985) Canine function in Smilodon (mammalia; felidae; machairodontinae). Contrib Sci 356, 1-22.
2. Auffenberg W (1981) The Behavioral Ecology of the Komodo Monitor. Gainesville: University Presses of Florida.
3. Barrett PM, Rayfield EJ (2006) Ecological and evolutionary implications of dinosaur feeding behaviour. Trends Ecol Evol 21, 217-224.
4. Busbey ABI (1989) Form and function of the feeding apparatus of Alligator mississippiensis. J Morphol 202, 99-127.
5. Christiansen P, Wroe S (2007) Bite forces and evolutionary adaptations to feeding ecology in carnivores. Ecology 88, 347-358.
6. Cleuren J, Aerts P, De Vree F (1995) Bite and joint force analysis on Caiman crocodilus. Belg J Zool 125, 79-94.
7. Daniel WJT, McHenry CR (2001) Bite force to skull stress correlation: modelling the skull of Alligator mississippiensis. In Crocodilian Biology and Evolution (eds Seebacher F, Franklin CE), pp. 135-143. New South Wales, Australia: Surrey Beatty & Sons.
8. Dechow PC, Hylander WL (2000) Elastic properties and masticatory bone stress in the macaque mandible. Am J Phys Anthropol 112, 553-574.
9. Dechow PC, Nail GA, Schwartz-Dabney CL, Ashman RB (1993) Elastic properties of human supraorbital and mandibular bone. Am J Phys Anthropol 90, 291-306.
10. Dumont ER, Piccirillo J, Grosse IR (2005) Finite-element analysis of biting behavior and bone stress in the facial skeletons of bats. Anat Rec Part A 283, 319-330.
11. Elias JA, McBrayer LD, Reilly SR (2000) Prey transport kinematics in Tupinambis teguixin and Varanus exanthematicus: Conservation of feeding behavior in 'chemosensory-tongued' lizards. J Exp Biol 203, 791-801.
12. Fastnacht M, Hess N, Frey E, Weiser H-P (2002) Finite element analysis in vertebrate paleontology. Seckenbergiana Lethaea 82, 195-206.
13. Frazzetta T (1962) A functional consideration of cranial kinesis in lizards. J Morphol 111, 287-320.
14. Haas G (1973) Muscles of the jaws and associated structures in the rhyncocephalia and squamata. In Biology of the Reptilia (eds Gans C, Parsons TS), pp. 285-490. London and New York: Academic Press.
15. Herrel A, Aerts P, De Vree F (1998) Static biting in lizards: Functional morphology of the temporal ligaments. J Zool 244, 135-143.
16. Herrel A, Spithoven R, Van Damme R, De Vree F (1999a) Sexual dimorphism of head size in Gallotia galloti: Testing for niche divergence hypothesis by functional analysis. Funct Ecol 13, 289-297.
17. Herrel A, Verstappen M, De Vree F (1999b) Modulatory complexity of the feeding repertoire in scincid lizards. J Comp Physiol A 184, 501-518.
18. Herring SW, Teng S (2000) Strain in the braincase and its sutures during function. Am J Phys Anthropol 112, 575-593.
19. Hylander WL (1979) Mandibular function in Galago crassicaudatus and Macaca fascicularis: An in vivo approach to stress analysis in the mandible. J Morphol 159, 253-296.
20. Mayes PJ, Thompson GG, Withers PC (2005) Diet and foraging behaviour of the semi-aquatic Varanus mertensi (Reptilia: Varanidae). Wildlife Res 32, 67-74.
21. McBrayer LD, White TD (2002) Bite force, behavior, and electromyography in the teiid lizard tupinambis teguixin. Copeia 2002, 111-119.
22. McHenry CR, Clausen PD, Daniel WJT, Meers MB, Pendharkar A (2006) Biomechanics of the rostrum in crocodilians: A comparative analysis using finite-element modeling. Anat Rec Part A 288, 827-849.
23. McHenry CR, Wroe S, Clausen PD, Moreno K, Cunningham E (2007) Super-modeled sabercat, predatory behaviour in Smilodon fatalis revealed by high-resolution 3-D computer simulation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104, 16010-16015.
24. Mertens R (1942) Die Familie der warane (Varanidae). Abh Senckenbergische Naturforsch.Ges 465, 1-39.
25. Metzger K (2002) Cranial Kinesis in Lepidosaurus: Skulls in Motion. New York: Shaper Publishing.
26. Metzger KA, Daniel WJT, Ross CF (2005) Comparison of beam theory and finite-element analysis with in vivo bone strain data from the alligator cranium. Anat Rec Part A 283, 331-348.
27. Moreno K, Carrano MT, Snyder R (2007) Morphological changes in pedal phalanges through ornithopod dinosaur evolution: A biomechanical approach. J Morphol 268, 50-63.
28. Preuschoft H, Witzel U (2005) Functional shape of the skull in vertebrates: Which forces determine skull morphology in lower primates and ancestral synapsids? Anat Rec Part A 283, 402-413.
29. Rafferty KL, Herring SW (1999) Craniofacial sutures: Morphology, growth, and in vivo masticatory strains. J Morphol 242, 167-179.
30. Rafferty KL, Herring SW, Marshall CD (2003) Biomechanics of the rostrum and the role of facial sutures. J Morphol 257, 33-44.
31. Rayfield EJ (2004) Cranial mechanics and feeding in Tyrannosaurus rex. Proc R Soc London B Biol Sci 271, 1451-1459.
32. Rayfield EJ (2005) Aspects of comparative cranial mechanics in the theropod dinosaurs Coelophysis, Allosaurus and Tyrannosaurus. Zool J Linn Soc 144, 309-316.
33. Rayfield EJ (2007) Finite element analysis and understanding the biomechanics and evolution of living and fossil organisms. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 35, 541-576.
34. Rayfield EJ, Norman DB, Horner CC, et al. (2001) Cranial design and function in a large theropod dinosaur. Nature 409, 1033-1037.
35. Reilly SM, McBrayer LD, White TD (2001) Prey processing in amniotes: biomechanical and behavioural patterns of food reduction. Comp Biochem Physiol 128A, 397-415.
36. Rho JY, Hobarto MC, Ashman RB (1995) Relations of mechanical properties to density and CT numbers in human bone. Med Eng Phys 17, 347-355.
37. Schneider U, Pedroni E, Lomax A (1996) The calibration of CT Hounsfield units for radiotherapy treatment planning. Phys Med.Biol.41, 111-124.
38. Sinclair AG, Alexander RM (1987) Estimates of forces exerted by the jaw muscles of some reptiles. J Zool 213, 107-115.
39. Smith KK (1982) An electromyographic study of the function of the jaw adducting muscles in Varanus exanthematicus (Varanidae). J Morphol 173, 137-158.
40. Snively E, Russell AP (2007) Functional variation of neck muscles and their relation to feeding style in tyrannosauridae and other large theropod dinosaurs. Anat Rec 290, 934-957.
41. Snively E, Henderson DM, Phillips DS (2006) Fused and vaulted nasals of tyrannosaurid dinosaurs: Implications for cranial strength and feeding mechanics. Acta Palaeontol Pol 51, 435-454.
42. Strait D, Richmond B, Ross C, Spencer M (2002) Finite element analysis of a macaque skull: Applications for functional morphology. Am J Phys Anthropol 177, Suppl. 34, 149.
43. Strait DS, Wang Q, Dechow PC, et al. (2005) Modeling elastic properties in finite element analysis: How much precision is needed to produce an accurate model? Anat Rec Part A 283, 275-287.
44. Strait DS, Wright BW, Richmond BG, et al. (2006) Craniofacial strain patterns during premolar loading: Implications for australopithecus feeding. Am J Phys Anthropol 129, 173.
45. Thomason JJ (1995) Functional Morphology in Vertebrate Paleontology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
46. Thomason JJ, McClinchey HL, Jofriet JC (2002) Analysis of strain and stress in the equine hoof capsule using finite element methods: comparison with principal strains recorded in vivo. Equine Vet J 34, 719-725.
47. Watts PC, Buley KR, Sanderson S, Boardman W, Ciofi C, Gibson R (2006) Parthenogenesis in Komodo dragons. Nature 444, 1021.
48. Wroe S, McHenry CR, Thomason JJ (2005) Bite club: Comparative bite force in big biting mammals and the prediction of predatory behaviour in fossil taxa. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 272, 619-625.
49. Wroe S, Clausen PD, McHenry CR, Moreno K, Cunningham E (2007a) Computer simulation of feeding behaviour in the thylacine and dingo: A novel test for convergence and niche overlap. Proc R Soc London B Biol Sci 274, 2819-2828.
50. Wroe S, Moreno K, Clausen PD, McHenry CR (2007b) High-resolution computer simulation of hominid cranial mechanics. Anat Rec 290, 1248-1255.