#toothplate

[crevicedwelling]

Élise had a rather indulgent meal this week, a pair of banded crickets fed with hami melon. she doesn’t have as much of a sweet tooth (toothplate?) as some of my others, but she ate the entirety of her meal, including the juicy sweet melon-filled organs.

[myrretah]

This is Methiyus. He's an old friend of mine. I sculpted him a couple days ago and sent his file to my friend to have him printed just yesterday. He's my first sculpt with a working toothplate that I've made digitally. I'm both excited and nervous for his print.

[katenicolai]

Photo dump from last week’s doll meet. 

Featuring: 

my sweet bb Rumiko wearing a wig that looks amazing on all who try it

the Evil Twin(s), who both showed up wearing the same toothplate

a Dream High Studio Pinch who travels in their own cooking pot (memento mori?)

a very 90s Polaroid portrait of Sal and his goth gf

an extremely floral @queenofsquids outfit that we all oooohed and ahhhed over the construction of

the fabulous posing and faceup of @missmistyknits‘ MH gal

a cute shot of @wraisedbywolves and @heavenlybeasts-bjd's well-dressed boys

[speculative-evolution]

SOURCE

I must admit I am happy how this turned out. It is similar in size to the Nile crocodile, although probably less massive, two thirds of its length are quite thin and snake-like. The creature doesn't have a fused rostrum, sometimes nicknamed a false head, but the same bones form a set of powerful pseudojaws, incorporating the true jaws into the structure, although the true mouth is nothing more than a lamprey-esque esophagus-like funnel lined with sharp toothplates at the base of each of the pseudojaws, leading into the chest via two separate esophagi. the pseudojaws can partially retract into the chest, they are launched forward when the creature attacks. there is a slit in the front of each pseudojaws to create a clear shot for a pair of barbed tentacle arms, which can pierce deep through the body wall of prey. they are not used all the time, being most useful for catching small swift soft-bodied prey in air and water alike. the predator can achieve a firm grip on any large herbivore who comes to drink by a quick snap of its large serrated pseudojaws without any assistance of these internal barbs. the "periscope" houses six eyes arranged in such a way that four can observe above the water surface and one pair can observe under the water surface and a nostril between them. as opposed to the pseudojaws, this structure can retract into the body completely, it fits perfectly between the shoulder flares of its shell and thus leaves the creature with a clean streamlined outline much more suitable for swimming.

[j216]

hemming toothplate by Jared Haer Tempests Unresistedness Study #fineart #tweegram #love #paint #generative #GIMP #design

[thenarside]

Tiny turtle bone to the right of the tape measure at 1. Puffer fish (Porcupine Fish) upper mouth plate to the right of 2 on the tape measure. The little pile on the bottom are stingray barbs and toothplates.

[crevicedwelling]

some centipede mouthparts from Scolopendra hainanum and Ethmostigmus trigonopodus. although the anatomy isn’t completely identical in function or form, it might surprise you to learn that centipedes eat a lot like humans do, with “teeth,” “lips,” and “tongues”!

in centipedes, the first pair of legs has been modified into venom-delivering forcipules (not a fang, so a centipede envenomation is properly a sting and not a bite). while the forcipules are used to kill and restrain prey, during feeding, they function like utensils to hold a meal in place.

the paired projections at the base of the forcipules are the coxosternal toothplates. I think they might help cut up armored prey, but haven’t been able to find a good description of their exact function. their shape varies between species, and the Scolopendra here has a smoother edge to the toothplates while the Ethmostigmus’ are more jagged and toothy.

above the toothplates, the two flat, soft, oval appendages are the first maxillae. they function like lips, keeping food inside the mouth when chewing, and covering the mandibles for protection when not.

the second maxillae are the longer, leglike pair of mouthparts that rest on top of the forcipule. they’re sort of like the centipede’s tongues, and shovel food into the mouth when the animal is eating. they’re also a centipede’s primary grooming tools, being coated with bristles, and centipedes will lick/brush themselves with the second maxillae to get clean (somewhere in between cat grooming itself and a car wash).

what you typically don’t see on a live centipede are the actual mandibles, since they’re hidden behind the first maxillae when at rest. this deceased Scolopendra hainanum with both maxilla 1 removed shows how small the centipede’s true jaws are compared to the rest of the head!

they’re serrated and sharp, being able to cut flesh and shell, and are a black color because they’re reinforced with minerals (the tips of the forcipules are also mineralized). when centipedes molt, they have to shed the outer exoskeletal layer of all these complex mouthparts, and while they try to eat as much of the exuvia as possible they often leave behind their old forcipules tips and mandibles because they’re so tough!

I’m using terminology from this paper, which is a helpful reference for standardized terms since different authors from different countries might not use the same word for a particular piece of centipede anatomy.

[crevicedwelling]

Hey I love your centipede mouth anatomy post but I have trouble matching the discription to the features in the picture. Could you make labels for the photo so i know what i'm looking for?

Also, it's so crazy how the pic on the left looks like it's got a little pair of incisors and canines! so cool!

a = forcipule

b = maxilla 2

c = toothplate

d = mandible

maxilla 1 has been removed during dissection but entirely covers the mandibles in live animals