[[File:Image from page 37 of "Water reptiles of the past and present" (1914) (14586264740).jpg|thumb|Hemimandible of ''Trimerorhachis''; the prearticular (labeled "pa") is visible on the interior surface]]
The '''prearticular''' is a bone in the lower jaw of many vertebrates that lies on the inner surface of the mandible. It forms the inner margin of the adductor fossa. It bears teeth in some groups.<ref name="Romer1956"/> It is present in both actinopterygians and sarcopterygians.<ref name="Schultze2008"/> The prearticular is in some ways the lower-jaw analogue of the pterygoid bone of the upper jaw,<ref name="Romer1956"/> and together the prearticular and pterygoid form the lingual series of the inner dental arcade bones.<ref name="Zhu2018"/> In lungfish, the prearticular forms a large part of the lower jaw and bears the prearticular tooth plate.<ref name="Criswell2015"/> Mesoeucrocodylians, including modern crocodylians, lack a prearticular; the ossification centers that form the prearticular are incorporated into the coronoid and articular instead.<ref name="Bona2022"/> In mammals, the prearticular fuses with the articular to form the malleus.<ref name="Rich2005"/>
==References== <references> <ref name="Bona2022">{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1002/ar.24873| issn = 1932-8486 | eissn = 1932-8494| pages = –24873| last1 = Bona| first1 = Paula| last2 = Fernandez Blanco| first2 = María Victoria| last3 = Ezcurra| first3 = Martín Daniel| last4 = Baczko| first4 = María Belén| last5 = Desojo| first5 = Julia Brenda| last6 = Pol| first6 = Diego| title = On the homology of crocodylian post-dentary bones and their macroevolution throughout Pseudosuchia| journal = The Anatomical Record| date = 2022-02-24| volume = 305 | issue = 10 | pmid = 35202518 | url = https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.24873| url-access = subscription}}</ref> <ref name="Criswell2015">{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1111/zoj.12255| issn = 0024-4082| volume = 174| issue = 4| pages = 801–858| last = Criswell| first = Katharine E.| title = The comparative osteology and phylogenetic relationships of African and South American lungfishes (Sarcopterygii: Dipnoi)| journal = Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society| date = 2015-08-01}}</ref> <ref name="Rich2005">{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1126/science.1105717| issn = 0036-8075 | eissn = 1095-9203| volume = 307| issue = 5711| pages = 910–914| last1 = Rich| first1 = Thomas H.| last2 = Hopson| first2 = James A.| last3 = Musser| first3 = Anne M.| last4 = Flannery| first4 = Timothy F.| last5 = Vickers-Rich| first5 = Patricia| title = Independent Origins of Middle Ear Bones in Monotremes and Therians| journal = Science| date = 2005-02-11 | pmid = 15705848 | bibcode = 2005Sci...307..910R }}</ref> <ref name=Romer1956>{{cite book | first1 = Alfred Sherwood | last1 = Romer | year = 1956 | title = The Osteology of the Reptiles | publisher = University of Chicago Press }}</ref> <ref name="Schultze2008">{{Cite conference| publisher = Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil| isbn = 978-3-89937-080-5| pages = 23–48| editor-first1 = Gloria | editor-last1 = Arratia | editor-first2 = Hans-Peter | editor-last2 = Schultze | editor-first3 = Mark V. H. | editor-last3 = Wilson | last = Schultze| first = Hans-Peter| title = Nomenclature and homologization of cranial bones in actinopterygians| book-title = Mesozoic fishes 4: Homology and phylogeny| location = München| date = 2008}}</ref> <ref name="Zhu2018">{{Cite book| edition = 1| publisher = Cambridge University Press| doi = 10.1017/9781316832172.005| isbn = 978-1-316-83217-2 | pages = 71–86| editor-first1 = Zerina | editor-last1 = Johanson | editor-first2 = Charlie | editor-last2 = Underwood | editor-first3 = Martha | editor-last3 = Richter | last1 = Zhu| first1 = You-An| last2 = Ahlberg| first2 = Per A.| last3 = Zhu| first3 = Min| title = Evolution and Development of Fishes| chapter = The evolution of vertebrate dermal jaw bones in the light of maxillate placoderms| date = 2018-12-31| chapter-url = https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9781316832172%23CN-bp-4/type/book_part}}</ref> </references>
{{Tetrapod osteology|S.}}
Category:Skull bones