Osteological Examination and Image Analysis of a Cranium of the Japanese Wolf Found at Private House in Yamanashi Prefecture

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  • ENDO Hideki
    Department of Zoology, National Science Museum
  • SAKAI Takeo
    Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health
  • ITOU Takuya
    Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health
  • KOIE Hiroshi
    Laboratory of Comprehensive Veterinary Clinical Studies
  • KIMURA Junpei
    Department of Veterinary Anatomy, College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University

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  • 山梨県の民家で発見されたニホンオオカミ頭蓋の骨学的および画像解析学的検討

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Abstract

We considered a skull of Canis preserved at a private house in Yamanashi Prefecture as that of Japanese wolf, Canis hodophilax. The size was 126.3 mm in zygomatic breadth, 107.9 mm in median palatal length and 38.2 mm in least breadth between orbits. The dorso-ventrally smaller frontal bone and caudo-laterally enlarged zygomatic arch could be observed. The rostro-cranial separation of the rostral alar foramen and the hollow in the median part of the posterior margin of the palatine bone were confirmed. The most dorsal region of the zygomatic arch consisted of the zygomatic process of the temporal bone. Both osteometircal and non-metrical characters demonstrated that the material was the skull of the extinct Japanese wolf. In addition the CT (computed tomography) imaging analysis pointed out that the nasal meatus was separated into the dorsal, medial and ventral nasal parts, and that the meatus possessed complicated structure in nasal cavity as well as in the domesticated dog. The distinct nasal septum cartilage and dorso-ventrally narrow frontal sinus could be seen in CT images. These CT data will help us to discuss the olfactory function in the Japanese wolf.

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