Limnognathia

When working with complicated morphological structures it may be useful to make generalized schematic images of the investigated organs. The simplest kind of presentation is the line drawings, however these may be insufficient when working with very complex organs. Thus, to give a more comprehensible presentation of the jaws they were reconstructed in a 3-dimensional illustration. The reconstructions were made in the computer program Rhinoceros, which is primarily made for industrial design. However, it also turned out to be very useful to illustrate complex organic structures. The 3-D illustrations were based on extensive SEM studies of prepared jaws, and afterwards each jaw element was rebuild in Rhinoceros using relatively simple geometric figures. When finished it is possible to tilt and rotate the structures so they can be viewed from all possible angles.

3-dimensional reconstruction showing the jaws from a dorsal view. Compare the reconstruction with the SEM-pictures or click on the thumbnails below to see the jaws from other perspectives.

3-dimensional reconstruction of the jaws