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- Title
Mandibular shape correlates of tooth fracture in extant Carnivora: implications to inferring feeding behaviour of Pleistocene predators.
- Authors
MELORO, CARLO
- Abstract
Percentages of tooth fracture and mandible shape are robust predictors of feeding habits in Carnivora. If these parameters co-vary above the species level, more robust palaeobiological inferences could be made on fossil species. A test of association is presented between mandible shape and tooth fracture in a subset of extant carnivorans together with large Pleistocene fossil predators from Rancho La Brea ( Canis dirus, Panthera atrox, and Smilodon fatalis). Partial least square (PLS) and comparative methods are employed to validate co-variation of these two parameters in extant carnivorans. Association between mandible shape and percentage of tooth fracture is strongly supported, even if both blocks of data exhibit a phylogenetic signal to a different degree. Dietary adaptations drive shape/fracture co-variation in extant species, although no significant differences occur in the PLS scores between carnivores and bone/hard food consumers. The fossil species project into PLS morphospace as outliers. Their position suggests a unique feeding behaviour. The increase in the size of prey, together with consumption of skin and hair from carcasses in a cold environment, might have generated unusual tooth breakage patterns in large predators from Rancho La Brea. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 106, 70-80.
- Subjects
CARNIVORA; MANDIBLE; PLEISTOCENE paleontology; ANIMAL feeding; MORPHOMETRICS; PREDATORY animals; LEAST squares
- Publication
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, Vol 106, Issue 1, p70
- ISSN
0024-4066
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1095-8312.2011.01843.x