THE TEMPORAL LIGAMENTS AND THEIR BEARING ON CRANIAL KINESIS IN LIZARDS

In the lateral temporal opening of the lacertilian skull there are thr ee main types of ligaments: quadratojugal, jugomandibular, and quadrat opostfrontal. The quadratojugal and ventral jugomandibular ligaments t ransmit the retraction force from the lower jaw to the rhinal unit of the maxillary segment. The dorsal jugomandibular ligament causes the c oupled kinesis, that results in the protraction of the whole maxillary segment (in the amphikinetic skull with simple streptostyly) or in th e protraction of the quadrate-mandibular complex (in the hyperstreptos tylic skull), when opening the mouth.