Abstract
We investigated the state of dental eruption in specimens of Macroscelides proboscideus and Erinaceus europaeus of known age. When M. proboscideus reaches adult size and sexual maturity, few or none of its replaced permanent cheek teeth have erupted. The approximate sequence of upper tooth eruption is P1, [I3, C, M1], [I1–2], M2, P4, [P2, P3]. Chronologically, E. europaeus erupts its molars and most premolars prior to M. proboscideus; but its first two upper incisors erupt after those of M. proboscideus, and its canines erupt around the same time. The approximate sequence of upper tooth eruption in E. europaeus is [M1, M2, P2, I3], C, M3, P4, P3, I2, I1. Unlike M. proboscideus, E. europaeus does not reach adult size until all permanent teeth except for the anterior incisors have erupted. While not unique among mammals, the attainment of adult body size prior to complete eruption of the permanent cheek teeth is particularly common among macroscelidids and other afrotherians.
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Acknowledgments
We thank U. Schürer, A. Sliwa, and the staff of the Wuppertal Zoo for access to specimens and data files of M. proboscideus. We also thank P.A. Morris for access to his E. europaeus collection and comments on assignment of ages in that taxon; L. Tomsett for access to the NHM London; C. Denys and J. Cuisin for access to the MNHN Paris; O. Grönwall, P. Eriksson, and the European Commission’s Research Infrastructure Action via the SYNTHESYS Project (SE-TAF 4069) for access to the NRM Stockholm; F. Mayer and H. Turni for access to the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin; A. Heaver, A. Goswami, and S. Sawiak for access to noninvasive imaging facilities in the departments of Engineering, Earth Sciences, and the Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre (respectively) at the University of Cambridge. We are grateful to T. Lehmann for data on ZMB specimens, and to T. Lehmann, A. Evans, and G. Rathbun for comments on the manuscript.
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Appendix
Appendix
Raw data on state of eruption and jaw length. “Erupt/10” indicates the number of completely erupted permanent cheek teeth with interlocking occlusion, taken as a proportion out of ten (indicating presence of all normally erupted cheek teeth). In cases where the dentition was incomplete (e.g., dentary lost), the proportion was calculated out of the maximum possible number of interlocking permanent cheek teeth for that specimen and species. “Symph-cond” indicates the distance in mm from the anterior margin of the mandibular symphysis to the posterior margin of the mandibular condyle (Asher and Lehmann 2008: fig. 1). “Prop adult jaw” indicates a given specimen’s symphysis-condyle length divided by the median length obtained for all specimens of that species with the permanent cheek teeth completely erupted (i.e., with a “erupt/10” value of ten), as indicated in the column “median jaw”. Institutional abbreviations are as follows: BMNH = Natural History Museum London; MNHN = Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle Paris; NRM = Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet Stockholm (previously abbreviated as “RS” in Asher and Lehmann 2008); TM = Transvaal Museum Pretoria; UMZC = University Museum of Zoology Cambridge; w = Wuppertal sengi colony described in Olbricht (2009), housed at the UMZC; ZMB = Zoologisches Museum Berlin.
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Asher, R.J., Olbricht, G. Dental Ontogeny in Macroscelides proboscideus (Afrotheria) and Erinaceus europaeus (Lipotyphla). J Mammal Evol 16, 99–115 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-009-9105-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-009-9105-2