. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology. 22 A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ODONTOLOGY OF OREOPITHECUS canine become reduced in size but its shape has been modified to permit it to bite against the edge of I2 in the manner of an additional incisor. In Oreopithecus the face is also greatly shortened and the canine reduced in size, but it appears to function in a different way. To judge from 4332, I2 is a reduced, conical tooth, placed at a higher level than the other teeth, and the lower canine passes below it without touching it (Text-fig. 13). Hurzeler's figure of a worn lowe
. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology. 22 A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ODONTOLOGY OF OREOPITHECUS canine become reduced in size but its shape has been modified to permit it to bite against the edge of I2 in the manner of an additional incisor. In Oreopithecus the face is also greatly shortened and the canine reduced in size, but it appears to function in a different way. To judge from 4332, I2 is a reduced, conical tooth, placed at a higher level than the other teeth, and the lower canine passes below it without touching it (Text-fig. 13). Hurzeler's figure of a worn lower canine (1949, figs. 8, 9) shows a large wear facet on the posterior side, due to the upper canine, but no anterior wear which might be due to I2. Thus whereas both Oreopithecus and the Hominidae have developed to an extreme degree a common primate trend of shortening of the anterior part of the face, they have adapted the dentition to this change in different ways : Oreopithecus by sacrificing the canine-I2 contact, while retaining the interlocking relation of the canines, the Hominidae by. 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 British Museum (Natural History). London : BM(NH)
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