Mandibular symphysis length vs mandible length in extant crocodilians.

<p>X axis plots the ratio of mandibular length to width, giving a size-controlled proxy for the spectrum of brevisrostral to longirostral morphology. Y axis is the proportion of symphyseal length to mandibular length. Values shown are natural logarithms. (A), data for 82 specimens of crocodilian, data measured from photographs of museum skulls; regression line is based upon mean values for each species. (B), data points as for (A), with data points ordered by width in each species and connected by lines. In effect, this plot shows the allometric trajectory of ML/W for each species, with the smallest animals on the right and largest on the left of each species plot; i.e. as animals increase in size, head width increases as a proportion of head length. Within each species, the symphyseal length (as a proportion of mandible length) remains consistent. (C), Regression lines for alligatorids, non-tomistomine crocodylids, <i>Gavialis</i>, and <i>Tomistoma</i>.