We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Ontogenetic Tooth Reduction in Stenopterygius quadriscissus (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria): Negative Allometry, Changes in Growth Rate, and Early Senescence of the Dental Lamina.
- Authors
Dick, Daniel G.; Maxwell, Erin E.
- Abstract
We explore the functional, developmental, and evolutionary processes which are argued to produce tooth reduction in the extinct marine reptile Stenopterygius quadriscissus (Reptilia: Ichthyosauria). We analyze the relationship between mandible growth and tooth size, shape, and count, to establish an ontogenetic trend. The pattern in S. quadriscissus is consistent with hypotheses of tooth size reduction by neutral selection, and this unusual morphology (a functionally edentulous rostrum) was produced by a series of different evolutionary developmental changes that are known for other taxa showing tooth reduction and loss. Specifically, this species evolved functional edentulism by evolutionary changes in the growth allometry of the dentition and by altering growth rates through ontogeny. This observation supports previous hypotheses that S. quadriscissus underwent ontogenetic tooth reduction. Tooth reduction in S. quadriscissus may be caused by unique selective pressures resulting from prey choice and feeding behavior, expanding our current understanding of the mechanisms producing tooth reduction.
- Subjects
ICHTHYOSAURIA; TOOTH loss; ONTOGENY; DENTAL extraction; ALLOMETRY; DENTAL veneers
- Publication
PLoS ONE, 2015, Vol 10, Issue 11, p1
- ISSN
1932-6203
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0141904