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Quantifying Saurian Tooth Complexity: Implications for Reconstructing the Diet of Extinct Amniotes Project ID: 00000C217 Public
49 Media · 47 Specimens · Creator: Melstrom, Keegan · Managed by: Keegan Melstrom

Recent paleontological discoveries reveal a dramatic range of tooth morphologies in extinct reptiles, with some dentitions rivaling the complexity of extant mammals. Many of these dental morphologies have no modern analogs, inhibiting detailed dietary and ecological reconstructions for ancient ecosystems. Living saurian reptiles exhibit a wide range of diets, from carnivores to strict herbivores. Previous research suggests that the tooth shape in some lizard clades correlates with diet, but this has not been tested using quantitative methods. In order to elucidate the diet of extinct heterodont reptiles, I investigated the correlation between phenotypic tooth complexity and diet in living reptiles by examining the entire dentary tooth row in over 80 specimens comprising all major dentigerous saurian clades. I quantified dental complexity using orientation patch count rotated (OPCR), which does not require the identification of homologous landmarks on each tooth and discriminates diet in living and extinct mammals, where OPCR values increase with the proportion of dietary plant matter. OPCR was calculated from high-resolution CT scans, and I standardized OPCR values by the total number of teeth to account for differences in tooth count across taxa. In living saurians, OPCR values for omnivores and herbivores are higher than those of carnivores. In contrast with extant mammals, there appears to be greater overlap in tooth complexity values across dietary groups because multicusped teeth characterize herbivores, omnivores, and insectivores, and because the herbivorous skinks have particularly simple teeth. Additionally, insectivorous lizards have dental complexities that overlap with omnivores. These results suggest reptilian tooth complexity is related to diet, similar to extinct and extant mammals.

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  ID Part Object Taxonomy Type Date Added Publication Status  
000012463 Mandible mcz:R-24456 Tiliqua rugosa Mesh 2016-05-07 Open Download  
000012446 Lower jaws mcz:R-44415 Platysaurus guttatus rhodesianus Mesh 2016-05-06 Open Download  
000012425 Dentary mcz:R-154263 Leiocephalus inaguae Mesh 2016-05-06 Open Download  
000012390 Lower jaw mcz:R-50973 Gerrhosaurus validus validus Mesh 2016-05-05 Open Download  
000012329 Lower jaw MCZ:Herp:R-33105 Egernia stokesii Mesh 2016-05-05 Open Download  
000012312 Lower jaw mcz:R-35222 Diporiphora winneckei Mesh 2016-05-05 Open Download  
000012077 Mandible mcz:R-19487 Basiliscus plumifrons Mesh 2016-04-30 Open Download  
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