A subdivision of the skeleton that corresponds to the lower part of the mouth. The lower jaw skeleton includes the following elements, when present: lower jaw teeth, the mandible and other lower jaw bones, and Meckel's cartilage.
Comment:
[homology-note] "The jaw joint of all jawed vertebrates, except for mammals, involves the quadrate and articular bones, or the posterior ends of the palatoquadrate and mandibular cartilages; A correlate of the conversion of the articular and quadrate bones to the malleus and incus is that all adult mammals have a jaw joint that lies between the dentary of the lower jaw and the squamosal bone of the skull roof.[well established][VHOG]" xsd:string {date_retrieved="2012-09-17", external_class="VHOG:0000428", ontology="VHOG", source="ISBN:978-0030223693 Liem KF, Bemis WE, Walker WF, Grande L, Functional Anatomy of the Vertebrates: An Evolutionary Perspective (2001) p.241 and p.101", source="http://bgee.unil.ch/"}