Kinematic analysis of the feeding behavior in the box turtleTerrapene carolina (L.), (Reptilia: Emydidae)
✍ Scribed by Bels, Vincent L.; Davenport, John; Delheusy, Véronique
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1997
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 231 KB
- Volume
- 277
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0022-104X
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✦ Synopsis
Kinematics of head, jaw, and tongue-hyoid movements in capture and transport of mealworms by Terrapene carolina are described. Gape cycles are divided into slow-opening, fast-opening, fast-closing and slow-closing stages. The division of the slow-opening stage into a depression of the lower jaw (SO I) and a stationary stage (SO II) during food transport is clearly related to forward movement and a pause of the tongue within the buccal cavity. Each phase is associated with a head extension and retraction cycle. Prey capture always involves lateral rotation of the head. Kinematics of capture and transport in this terrestrial chelonian share some of the basic characteristics of tetrapod feeding (tongue-based intraoral transport, slow-opening stage before fast-opening). However, capture of mealworms does not involve lingual prehension, but only jaw movements.