. The carnivores of West Africa. 498 THE CARNIVORES OF WEST AFRICA rhcrc IS nothing remarkable about the mandible except that for a large cat hunting large prey it is not particularly strongly built, the rami being shallow and straight, the anterior end not sharply upturned. The dentition, however, both upper and lower, is distinctive. The cheekteeth are nominally ':q as in all other African felines except the caracal: but the small anterior upper premolar may not infrequently be lacking. When It IS present it completely fills the very narrow space between the canine and the second premolar, b
. The carnivores of West Africa. 498 THE CARNIVORES OF WEST AFRICA rhcrc IS nothing remarkable about the mandible except that for a large cat hunting large prey it is not particularly strongly built, the rami being shallow and straight, the anterior end not sharply upturned. The dentition, however, both upper and lower, is distinctive. The cheekteeth are nominally ':q as in all other African felines except the caracal: but the small anterior upper premolar may not infrequently be lacking. When It IS present it completely fills the very narrow space between the canine and the second premolar, being often tightly jammed against the latter. The space between the canine. Fig. 65. jnhatnr. skull, No. , 2, x *; Literal view and first premolar of the mandible is also unusually narrow, so that when the jaws of Acincnyx are tightly closed there is little sign of any postcaniiic gap which is so obvious a feature of other felines. This tight closure of the jaws is to some extent facilitated by the great reduction and almost complete evanescence of the antero-internal cusp of the upper carnassial, present in all other West African species. In addition, the anterior and posterior cusps of the premolars, both above and below, are not only unusually well- developed but also m nearly every case doubled by the interposition of a shallow Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Rosevear, Donovan Reginald, 1900-1986; British Museum (Natural History). Department of Zoology. [Mammals]. London : Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History)
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