scholarly journals Structure and composition of the incisor enamel of extant and fossil mammals with tooth pigmentation

Lethaia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 370-388
Author(s):  
Raquel Moya‐Costa ◽  
Blanca Bauluz ◽  
Gloria Cuenca‐Bescós
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Mammals

Influence of phylogeny on the estimation of diet from dental morphology in the Carnivora

Paleobiology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Samantha S. B. Hopkins ◽  
Samantha A. Price ◽  
Alec J. Chiono
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Evolutionary Constraints ◽  
Dental Morphology ◽  
Tooth Shape ◽  
Fossil Mammals ◽  
Phylogenetic Constraints ◽  
Substantial Error ◽  
Evolutionary Tempo And Mode ◽  
Vertebrate Skeleton

Abstract Because teeth are the most easily preserved part of the vertebrate skeleton and are particularly morphologically variable in mammals, studies of fossil mammals rely heavily on dental morphology. Dental morphology is used both for systematics and phylogeny as well as for inferences about paleoecology, diet in particular. We analyze the influence of evolutionary history on our ability to reconstruct diet from dental morphology in the mammalian order Carnivora, and we find that much of our understanding of diet in carnivorans is dependent on the phylogenetic constraints on diet in this clade. Substantial error in estimating diet from dental morphology is present regardless of the morphological data used to make the inference, although more extensive morphological datasets are more accurate in predicting diet than more limited character sets. Unfortunately, including phylogeny in making dietary inferences actually decreases the accuracy of these predictions, showing that dietary predictions from morphology are substantially dependent on the evolutionary constraints on carnivore diet and tooth shape. The “evolutionary ratchet” that drives lineages of carnivorans to evolve greater degrees of hypercarnivory through time actually plays a role in allowing dietary inference from tooth shape, but consequently requires caution in interpreting dietary inference from the teeth fossil carnivores. These difficulties are another reminder of the differences in evolutionary tempo and mode between morphology and ecology.

scholarly journals II.—A Restoration of Hyænodon

1895 ◽  
Vol 2 (10) ◽  
pp. 441-443
Author(s):  
W. B. Scott
Keyword(s):  
South Dakota ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
Limb Bones ◽  
White River ◽  
Good Fortune ◽  
Fossil Mammals ◽  
Long Time

Hyænodon is one of the genera of fossil mammals which has been for a long time imperfectly known. Excellently preserved skulls have been described and figured by Leidy and Filhol, and some of the limb-bones and vertebræ by De Blainville and Schlosser. Material was, however, lacking for a satisfactory restoration of any of the species, and the specific refeŕence of the scattered bones found has always remained more or less uncertain. In the season of 1894 Mr. Hatcher had the good fortune to discover in the White River beds (Oligocene) of South Dakota a number of remarkably fine specimens pertaining to several species of Hyænodon, which at length enable us to gain an idea of the appearance of this most remarkable animal.

Ecological Specialization in Fossil Mammals Explains Cope’s Rule

2012 ◽  
Vol 179 (3) ◽  
pp. 328-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Raia ◽  
F. Carotenuto ◽  
F. Passaro ◽  
D. Fulgione ◽  
M. Fortelius
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Specialization ◽  
Fossil Mammals ◽  
Cope’S Rule
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