Details of teeth found in many warm-blooded vertebrate animals
This article is about teeth or tusks of mammals in general. For the teeth of humans, see Human tooth.
An adult cheetah showing its long, sharp canine teeth.
Teeth are common to most vertebrates, but mammalian teeth are distinctive in having a variety of shapes and functions. This feature first arose among early therapsids during the Permian, and has continued to the present day. All therapsid groups with the exception of the mammals are now extinct, but each of these groups possessed different tooth patterns, which aids with the classification of fossils.
Most extant mammals including humans are diphyodonts, i.e. they have an early set of deciduous teeth and a later set of permanent or "adult" teeth. Notable exceptions are elephants, kangaroos, and manatees, all of which are polyphyodonts, i.e. having teeth that are continuously being replaced.
Mammal teeth include incisors, canines, premolars, and molars, not all of which are present in all mammals. Various evolutionary modifications have occurred, such as the lack of canines in Glires, the development of tusks from either incisors (elephants) or canines (pigs and walruses), the adaptation of molars into flesh-shearing carnassials in Carnivora, and others.
therapsid groups with the exception of the mammals are now extinct, but each of these groups possessed different tooth patterns, which aids with the classification...
The genes governing tooth development in mammals are homologous to those involved in the development of fish scales. Study of a tooth plate of a fossil...
Carnivora, but are seen in a number of different mammal groups.[citation needed] Not all carnivorous mammals, however, developed carnassial teeth. Mesonychids...
"dagger-tooth", from Greek μάχαιρα (machaira), sword. Sometimes, other carnivorous mammals with elongated teeth are also called saber-toothed cats, although...
A mammal (from Latin mamma 'breast') is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (/məˈmeɪli.ə/). Mammals are characterized by the presence of milk-producing...
teeth". Dental anatomy is a field of anatomy dedicated to the study of tooth structure. The development, appearance, and classification of teeth fall...
apart, and occasionally as weapons. They are often the largest teeth in a mammal's mouth. Individuals of most species that develop them normally have four...
water, with the exception of river dolphins. Toothed whales consist of some of the most widespread mammals, but some, as with the vaquita, are restricted...
every mammal's teeth are specialised for different functions, many mammal groups have lost the teeth that are not needed in their adaptation. Tooth form...
sometimes known as spiny anteaters, are quill-covered monotremes (egg-laying mammals) belonging to the family Tachyglossidae /tækiˈɡlɒsɪdiː/, living in Australia...
sockets. In mammals, tooth sockets are found in the maxilla, the premaxilla, and the mandible. 1706, "a hollow", especially "the socket of a tooth", from Latin...
is one of the best known saber-toothed predators and prehistoric mammals. Although commonly known as the saber-toothed tiger, it was not closely related...
Origin and causes of the mammoth steppe: a story of cloud cover, woolly mammaltooth pits, buckles, and inside-out Beringia. Q. Sci. Rev. 20, 549–74. Elias...
Algernon Mantell (1790-1852) discovered an Iguanodon tooth in Sussex in England. Unlike mammal teeth, individual dinosaur teeth are generally not considered...
Otodus megalodon (/ˈmɛɡələdɒn/ MEG-əl-ə-don; meaning "big tooth"), commonly known as megalodon, is an extinct species of giant mackerel shark that lived...
Monotremes (/ˈmɒnətriːmz/) are mammals of the order Monotremata. They are the only known group of living mammals that lay eggs, rather than bearing live...
Tooth enamel is one of the four major tissues that make up the tooth in humans and many animals, including some species of fish. It makes up the normally...
Polyphyodonts include most toothed fishes, many reptiles such as crocodiles and geckos, and most other vertebrates, mammals being the main exception. New...
but they had serrated edges. The scimitar-toothed phenotype has also evolved independently in other mammal families. Based on mitochondrial DNA sequences...
"Origin and causes of the mammoth steppe: A story of cloud cover, woolly mammaltooth pits, buckles, and inside-out Beringia". Quaternary Science Reviews....
Marine mammals are mammals that rely on marine (saltwater) ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as cetaceans (whales, dolphins and...
Incisors (from Latin incidere, "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans...
transition. The mandible, or lower jaw, consists of a single, tooth-bearing bone in mammals (the dentary), whereas the lower jaw of modern and prehistoric...
The Saint Bathans mammal is a currently unnamed extinct primitive mammal from the Early Miocene (Altonian, 18.7 Ma to 15.9 Ma) of New Zealand. A member...
Azores The Spade-toothed whale (M. traversii) was only morphologically described in 2012 Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the...
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