noun
definition
Either of the two bones that together form the upper jaw.
definition
(arthropodology) One of a set of paired mouthparts found in many arthropods and used for tasting and manipulating food.
Examples of maxilla in a Sentence
C. Borner has stated that the unpaired piercer is attached directly to the base of the left maxilla.
Ia, frons; b, clypeus (the pointed labrum beneath it); II, mandible; III, first maxilla; (a, base; b, sheath; c, piercer), III', inner view of sheath; IV, second maxillae forming rostrum (b, mentum; c, ligula).
The poison-bag lies on the side of the head between the eye and the mandibular joint and is held in position by strong ligaments which are attached to this joint and to the maxilla so that the act of opening the jaws and concomitant erection of the fangs automatically squeezes the poison out of the glands.
In the skull the zygomatic arch is slender and the jugal bone small and not extending far forwards, being supported by the long zygomatic process of the maxilla, while the infra-orbital foramen is mostly large, and there are no post-orbital processes.
The most obvious feature the Apteryges afford is the presence of a back toe, while the extremely aborted condition of the wings, the position of the nostrils - almost at the tip of the maxilla - and the absence of an after-shaft in the feathers, are characters nearly as manifest, and others not less determinative, though more recondite, will be found on examination.
In the upper jaw there is a compressed, sharp-pointed, tusk-like incisor near the hind edge of the premaxilla, followed in the male at least by a moderate-sized, pointed, curved canine in the anterior part of the maxilla.
The upper jaw is called the maxilla; the lower jaw is called a mandible.
Assessment The maxilla was too narrow for a natural tongue resting position, having had four premolars removed at age 12.
Table 1 illustrates these differences for the test and control brushes for the anterior and posterior sextants of the mandible and maxilla.
He therefore regards it as the inner lobe (lacinia) of that maxilla, comparing it with the remarkable " pick " of the maxilla of a book-louse (see Copeognatha in article Neuroptera), The paired piercers, connected by muscles with the base of the maxillae, but attached directly to the head skeleton, into which they can be withdrawn, are regarded by Borner as true mandibles.
A, Front; B, side; C, back; v, vertex; f, frons; cl, clypeus; lbr, labrum; oc, compound eye; ge, gena; mn, mandible; ca, st, pa, ga, la, cardo, stipes, palp, galea, lacinia of first maxilla; sm, m, pa', pg, submentum, mentum, palp, galea of 2nd maxilla.
These bones include the nasal, maxilla, lacrimal, and frontal bones.
The inner lobe (lacinia) of the first maxilla terminates in an articulated hook, while in the second maxillae (labium) both inner and outer lobes ("ligula" and "para-glossae") are much Gyrinus sulcatus reduced.
In generalized biting insects, such as cockroaches and locusts (Orthoptera), the parts of a typical maxilla can be easily recognized in the labium.
Another very singular form is A, laminirostris, which has affixed on either side of the maxilla, near the base, a quadrangular ivory-like plate, forming a feature unique in this or almost in any family of birds.
Titanotherium, of the Oligocene of the Dakotas and neighbouring districts, was a huge beast, with the hinder upper premolars similar in character to the molars, a pair of horn-cores, arising from the maxilla, overhanging the nose-cavity, four front and three hind toes, only twenty dorso-lumbar vertebrae, and an almost continuous and unbroken series of teeth, in which the canines are short; the dental formula being i.
It may assume the form of a bivalve shell entirely enclosing the body and limbs, as in many 6, maxilla (second maxilla).
Behind it, and freely communicating with it beneath the osseous bridge (the post-orbital process of the frontal) forming the boundary between them, is the small temporal fossa occupying the whole of the side of the cranium proper, and in front is the great flattened expanse of the " cheek," formed chiefly by the maxilla, giving support to the long row of cheek-teeth, and having a prominent ridge running forward from below the orbit for the attachment of the masseter muscle.
Watson has shown, is hardly distinguishable; (2) Eudyptes, in which the bill is much shorter and rather broad; and (3) Spheniscus, in which the shortish bill is compressed and the maxilla ends in a conspicuous hook.
Solid as it looks, its weight is inconsiderable, and the perfect hinge by which the maxilla is articulated adds to its efficiency as an instrument of prehension.
The articulation of the mandible to the quadrate-bone is such as to allow of a very considerable amount of lateral play, and, by a particular arrangement of the muscles which move the former, it comes to pass that so soon as the bird opens its mouth the point of the mandible is brought immediately opposite to that of the maxilla (which itself is movable vertically), instead of crossing or overlapping it - the usual position when the mouth is closed.
The first step towards a classification rests on the fact that the upper jaw is composed of two bones, the premaxilla and the maxilla, and that the division or suture between these bones separates the three front teeth from the rest.