| Extensive frequency data are used for a reconstruction of Devonian cunodont apparatuses. Correspondence analysis and a related clustering method are selected as statistical tools, and are used as informal methods for testing a priori hypotheses rather than as search mechanisms. In our view, the Palmatolepis apparatus consists of palmatolepan P elements, tripodellan or nothognathellan O elements, palmatodellan and smithiform N elements, and a symmetry transition consisting of falcodontan A1 elements, asymmetrical scutulan A2 elements, and symmetrical scutulan A3 elements. A peculiar phenomenon, already described by other authors, is the numerical dominance of the P elements, which are on the average 15 times as frequent as corresponding O and N elements. It... |
