.
The first attempt of a quantitative description of the skull
of the thylacine, and a comparison with that of the placental wolf (Canis
lupus), was made by Moeller in 1968. Moeller compared a range
of skull measurements from 33 thylacine and 55 wolf skulls. The maximum
and minimum skull length for the thylacine skulls was 234mm and 173mm,
and for the wolf skulls 258mm and 184mm. Moeller found that there
were a number of similarities and differences between the skulls of the
two species. As one can see from the overlapping distribution of
the data points in graph 1, the jugal width of the thylacine and wolf are
comparable.
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Graph 1: Jugal width
vs. skull length (mm) - Thylacinus cynocephalus and Canis lupus.
Moeller (1968).
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| This was also the case
for the median length of the respective tooth rows, as can be seen in graph
2. |
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.
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Graph 2: Median length
of tooth row vs. skull length (mm) - Thylacinus cynocephalus and
Canis
lupus. Moeller (1968).
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| Moeller observed two
major structural differences; that of the width of the palate at the penultimate
molar (M3) as shown in graph 3, and the length of the brain case as shown
in graph 4. In both cases, the data points do not overlap, but lie
in distinct fields. The palate width was found to be 8mm greater
in the wolf (more in larger animals), and the brain case 14mm longer. |
.
.
Graph 3: Palate width
(at M3) vs. skull length (mm) - Thylacinus cynocephalus and Canis
lupus.
Moeller (1968).
|
.
.
Graph 4: Brain case
length vs. skull length (mm) - Thylacinus cynocephalus and Canis
lupus.
Moeller (1968).
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