prevomer

plural prevomers

1. biologyA bone from non-mammalian vertebrates forming the anterior roof of the palate.

   1 more example

   Only in the Chelonia (Fig. 32 b) are the prevomers single, though sometimes fused in the Rhiptoglossa, Theropoda, and Theriodontia (Figs. 43 c, 44 e). They are edentulous in all known reptiles except the Cotylosauria (Fig. 6), some Theromorpha, perhaps, certain "Pseudosuchia," Diaptosauria (Fig. 63), and Squamata. Posteriorly in the Squamata (Figs. 55 c, 56 b) they articulate with the palatines only, as also in some Chelonia (Figs. 31 a, 32 b) and Plesiosauria (Fig. 46 b). Generally believed not to represent the unpaired vomer of the mammals.

   1925, Samuel Wendell Williston, “Chapter 1”, in The Osteology of the Reptiles