Vertebrate Zoology 59(1): 61-69, doi:

Sex dimorphic dentition and notes on the skull and hypbranchium in the hynobiid salamander Pachyhynobius shangchengensis FEI, QU & WU, 1983 (Urodela: Amphibia)

Günter Clemen, Hartmut Greven^‡

‡ Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany

Corresponding author: Hartmut Greven ( grevenh@uni-duesseldorf.de )

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation:

Abstract

A noticeable sex-dimorphic dentition is described in the hynobiid salamander Pachyhynobius shangchengensis. In the upper and lower jaw, the male possesses pedicellate teeth with a chisel- or spearhead-like crown, i.e. secondary (labial) cusps of teeth are largely reduced, whereas the primary (lingual) cusps are fl attened antero-posteriorly and exhibit sharp edges. In contrast, females have pedicellate, somewhat fl attened teeth more variable in shape, but with small bladed labial and large bladed lingual cusps. Vomeres of both sexes bear typical bicuspid, pedicellate teeth. Skulls including the hyobranchium are largely ossifi ed with some minor differences between males and females. However, females appear to lack the pars hypohyalis in the hyobranchial apparatus.

Keywords

Hynobiidae, dentition, sexual dimorphism, chisel-like teeth, hyobranchial apparatus