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Convergence on dental simplification in the evolution of whales

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2018

Carlos Mauricio Peredo [Opens in a new window] ,
Julio S. Peredo  and
Nicholas D. Pyenson
Carlos Mauricio Peredo
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Science and Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia 22030, U.S.A.; andDepartment of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. 20560, U.S.A. E-mail: CPeredo@masonlive.gmu.edu
Julio S. Peredo
Affiliation:
9638 Baltimore Avenue, Laurel, Maryland 20723, U.S.A. E-mail: juliop1@umbc.edu
Nicholas D. Pyenson
Affiliation:
Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. 20560, US.A.; andDepartments of Mammalogy and Paleontology, Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, Seattle, Washington 98105, U.S.A. E-mail: pyensonn@si.edu
Corresponding
E-mail address:
CPeredo@masonlive.gmu.edu
juliop1@umbc.edu
pyensonn@si.edu
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Abstract

The fossil record of mammal dentition provides crucial insight into key ecological and functional transitions throughout mammalian evolutionary history. For cetaceans, both extant clades differ markedly from their stem ancestors; neither retains the differentiated dentition or the tribosphenic molars characteristic of Mammalia. We used quantitative measures of dental complexity across fossil and living cetaceans to identify a trend toward dental simplicity through the Neogene. Both extant cetacean clades depart from the ancestral mammalian condition and concurrently converge upon a reduced and simplified dentition; modern mysticetes all have become entirely edentulous (at birth), and living odontocetes possess teeth as single-rooted, conical pegs. These two parallel trends accompany major shifts in feeding strategy (i.e., filter feeding in mysticetes and echolocation in odontocetes), suggesting that these evolutionary innovations for prey acquisition are enabling factors for the loss of prey processing and subsequent convergence on dental simplification.

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Information
Paleobiology , Volume 44 , Issue 3 , August 2018 , pp. 434 - 443
Copyright
© 2018 The Paleontological Society. All rights reserved. 

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