dromaeognathous

alternative dromæognathous

1. not comparablebiologyPossessing a palatal structure akin to the emu and the other (now extinct) species of the genus Dromaius.

   The fourth principal type, the dromæognathous, is not found in any Indian birds.

   1895, Eugene William Oates, William Thomas Blanford, Birds, volume 3, Taylor and Francis, page v

   3 more examples

   From the fact that the dromæognathous skull is more reptilian than any other type, it would seem that the Ratitæ diverged early from the carinate stock.

   1921, William Aitcheson Haswell, A Text-book of Zoology, 3rd edition, volume 2, Macmillan, page 431

   It is well known that the membrane bones of the ostrich palate have a dromæognathous arrangement which is closer to the lacertilian plan than to the characteristic bird type where palatines and pterygoids slide upon a central rostrum.

   1937, Zoological Society of London, “Proceedings”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 107, part 2, page 225

   Ægithognathous.—One of the four types of palatal structure distinguished by Huxley. The Dromæognathous type, with large vomer,¹ found in Ratites (Ostrich-like birds) is sharply defined from the others (in which the vomer is more or less reduced), but the latter are by no means so clearly separated from one another, and are connected to a great extent by intermediate conditions.

   1938: Harry Forbes Witherby, Francis Charles Robert Jourdain, Norman Frederic Ticehurst, and Bernard William Tucker, The Handbook of British Birds, volume 1, page xxvi (7th Ed.; H. F. & G. Witherby)