Department of Mammalogy and Paleoanthropology, Center of Natural History (CeNak), Universität Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.
Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, Zoological Institute of the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Am Botanischen Garten 9, 24118 Kiel, Germany.
J R Soc Interface. 2021 Sep;18(182):20210377. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2021.0377. Epub 2021 Sep 15.
The radula is the structure used for food processing in Mollusca. It can consist of a membrane with stiffer teeth, which is, together with alary processus, muscles and odontophoral cartilages, part of the buccal mass. In malacology, it is common practice to infer potential tooth functions from morphology. Thus, past approaches to explain functional principles are mainly hypothesis driven. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a workflow testing hypotheses on the function of teeth and buccal mass components and interaction of structures, which can contribute to understanding the structure as a whole. Here, in a non-conventional approach, we introduce a physical and dynamic radular model, based on morphological data of (Gastropoda, Paludomidae). Structures were documented, computer-modelled, three-dimensional-printed and assembled to gather a simplistic but realistic physical and dynamic radular model. Such a bioinspired design enabled studying of radular kinematics and interaction of parts when underlain supporting structures were manipulated in a similar manner as could result from muscle contractions. The presented work is a first step to provide a constructional manual, paving the way for even more realistic physical radular models, which could be used for understanding radular functional morphology and for the development of novel gripping devices.
齿舌是软体动物用于食物加工的结构。它可以由一个带有更硬牙齿的膜组成，与翼状突起、肌肉和齿舌软骨一起，构成口腔质的一部分。在贝类学中，根据形态学推断潜在的牙齿功能是常见做法。因此，过去解释功能原理的方法主要是基于假设的。因此，迫切需要一种工作流程来测试关于牙齿和口腔质成分以及结构相互作用的功能假设，这有助于整体理解结构。在这里，我们采用了一种非传统的方法，基于（腹足纲，沼螺科）的形态学数据，引入了一个物理和动态的齿舌模型。我们记录了结构，对其进行计算机建模，三维打印并组装，以收集一个简单但现实的物理和动态齿舌模型。这种仿生设计使得可以研究齿舌运动学以及当支撑结构以类似于肌肉收缩可能导致的方式进行操作时各部分之间的相互作用。目前的工作是提供一个结构手册的第一步，为更现实的物理齿舌模型铺平道路，这些模型可用于理解齿舌的功能形态，并为新型夹持装置的开发提供帮助。
