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Dental topographic analysis of paromomyid (Plesiadapiformes, Primates) cheek teeth: more than 15 million years of changing surfaces and shifting ecologies Project ID: 00000C345 Public
89 Media · 37 Specimens · Managed by: Sergi López-Torres

Plesiadapiforms, appearing near the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, represent the first primate radiation and show a diverse array of tooth morphologies. Dental topographic metrics provide quantitative data on occlusal surface shape. We used three metrics, Dirichlet Normal Energy, Relief Index, and 3D Orientation Patch Count Rotated, to assess changes in the morphology of lower fourth premolars and lower second molars in a taxonomically broad sample of one family of plesiadapiforms, Paromomyidae, stretching more than 15 million years. Our results indicate that paromomyids occupied a more diverse range of dietary categories than suspected. Whereas all paromomyids were likely omnivores, some species show higher levels of insectivory, while other taxa are inferred to have been mixed-feeding omnivores with high levels of fruit intake. The results also show that the more primitive members of the different paromomyid lineages were more insectivorous than the derived and more recent members of those lineages. Relief Index values also show taxonomic signals that are consistent with ancestor-descendant relationships hypothesised for species of Phenacolemur. These results suggest that dental topographic metrics are informative to the study of paromomyids for both dietary categorisation and for the distinction of species at a fine taxonomic level.

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  ID Part Object Taxonomy Type Date Added Publication Status  
000026890 Lower mandible usnm:paleobiology:493867 Phenacolemur simonsi Volumetric Image Series 2017-06-09 Restricted Download  
000027232 Lower p4 usnm:paleobiology:493867 Phenacolemur simonsi Mesh 2017-06-15 Restricted Download  
000027227 Lower m2 usgs:12883 Phenacolemur praecox-fortior Mesh 2017-06-15 Restricted Download  
000027226 Lower p4 usgs:12883 Phenacolemur praecox-fortior Mesh 2017-06-15 Restricted Download  
000027237 Lower p4 usnm:paleobiology:538053 Phenacolemur praecox Mesh 2017-06-15 Restricted Download  
000026889 Lower mandible usgs:12883 Phenacolemur praecox-fortior Volumetric Image Series 2017-06-09 Restricted Download  
000026888 Lower p4 usnm:paleobiology:538053 Phenacolemur praecox Volumetric Image Series 2017-06-09 Restricted Download  
000027231 Lower m2 usnm:paleobiology:488331 Phenacolemur fortior Mesh 2017-06-15 Restricted Download  
000026887 Lower mandible usnm:paleobiology:488331 Phenacolemur fortior Volumetric Image Series 2017-06-09 Restricted Download  
000026886 Lower p4 usnm:paleobiology:521810 Phenacolemur fortior Volumetric Image Series 2017-06-09 Restricted Download  
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