The Repeated Evolution of Dental Apicobasal Ridges in Aquatic-Feeding Mammals and Reptiles
applyparastyle “fig//caption/p[1]” parastyle “FigCapt” Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2019, 127, 245–259. With 7 figures. The repeated evolution of dental apicobasal ridges in aquatic-feeding mammals and reptiles MATTHEW R. MCCURRY1,2*, ALISTAIR R. EVANS3,4, ERICH M. G. FITZGERALD4, 5,6,7 8 9,10 COLIN R. MCHENRY , JOSEPH BEVITT and NICHOLAS D. PYENSON Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article/127/2/245/5427318 by guest on 27 September 2021 1Australian Museum Research Institute, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia 2PANGEA Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia 3School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia 4Geosciences, Museums Victoria, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia 5School of Engineering, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia 6School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia 7Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia 8Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Sydney, NSW 2234, Australia 9Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA 10Mammalogy and Paleontology, Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA Received 17 November 2018; revised 12 February 2019; accepted for publication 13 February 2019 Since the Permian, Earth’s aquatic ecosystems have been ecologically dominated by numerous lineages of predatory amniotes. Many of these groups evolved elevated ridges of enamel that run down the apical–basal axis of their teeth, referred to here as apicobasal ridges. This trait is commonly used as a taxonomic tool to identify fossil species and higher groupings, but the function of the ridges and their associated ecological significance are poorly understood.
[Show full text]