INVESTIGADORES
CARLINI Alfredo Armando
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Dental eruption in Southern Placental Mammals. 59th Annual Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy
Autor/es:
ASHER, RJ; CIANCIO MR; CASTRO, MC; GALLIARI, FC; CARLINI AA.; PATTISON, D.; HAUTIER, L.
Lugar:
LYME REGIS
Reunión:
Simposio; 59th Annual Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy; 2011
Resumen:
Relative to most mammals, xenarthrans (sloths, anteaters, and armadillos) have a very
distinctive dentition. Anteaters lack teeth completely; armadillos and sloths show homogeneous,
peg-like teeth, often characterized as lacking both enamel and diphyodonty. In fact, the
armadillo genus Dasypus exhibits both a narrow layer of enamel and a replacement generation,
and appears to be the only xenarthran with two generations of teeth.
It is not yet known if the pattern of deciduous tooth eruption in Dasypus, or replacement of its
deciduous set by permanent teeth, resembles patterns exhibited by other clades of mammals.
The possibility that "late eruption" of the permanent dentition, as observed among endemic
African mammals, also characterizes Dasypus has not yet been definitively tested. Here, we
present data showing that Dasypus reaches adult size prior to the completion of dental
replacement, consistent with the hypothesis that it exhibits an afrotherian-like pattern of dental
replacement. In addition, we compare data on dental eruption of the deciduous teeth using
developmental series of mammalian embryos and fetuses, including Dasypus, and ask to what
extent armadillos and afrotherians exhibit more diversity within vs. among their constituent
clades.