High-level similarity of dentitions in carnivorans and rodents

Alistair R. Evans (), Gregory P. Wilson, Mikael Fortelius and Jukka Jernvall
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Alistair R. Evans: University of Helsinki
Gregory P. Wilson: Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Mikael Fortelius: University of Helsinki
Jukka Jernvall: University of Helsinki

Nature, 2007, vol. 445, issue 7123, 78-81

Abstract: Cutting edge palaeontology Palaeontologists can reconstruct the diets of extinct animals as a pointer to their lifestyles by painstaking comparison of fossil teeth with those of comparable living animals . A new method, based on a 'virtual' teeth database compiled from 441 digital images of teeth from 81 carnivore and rodent species, is less time consuming and may be more accurate. In the example of the carnivores and rodents, the dental comparisons show that the surface complexity of tooth crowns directly reflects the food that is eaten. The sheer variety of different diets adopted by living species means that the new method is particularly useful for fossils with no close analogues among living species.

Date: 2007
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DOI: 10.1038/nature05433

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