Hyab Mehari Abraha

TL;DR: A subject-specific FEM of a rhesus macaque mandible was constructed, loaded and validated using in vivo data from the same animal, and the relative strain magnitudes were similar to those recorded in vivo for all strain locations.

TL;DR: The results are inconsistent with hypotheses that skull shape variation within marsupial species reflects a constraint pattern, but support suggestions that individual plasticity can be an important determinant of within-species shape variation in marsupials with high masticatory stresses.

TL;DR: The findings suggest that the mechanical importance of the PDL in FEMs of the mandible during chewing is dependent on the scope of the hypotheses being tested, and whether researchers are comparing strain gradients across species/taxa or if researchers are concerned with absolute strain values, sensitivity analysis is required.

TL;DR: A finite element model of a macaque mandible is used to test hypotheses about mandibular loading and strain regimes and relate variation in muscle activity during chewing on different foods to variation in strain regimes.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that snake fangs are an iconic exemplar of a complex adaptation, but despite striking developmental and morphological similarities, they probably evolved independently in several lineages of venomous snakes.