This article is about the dental structure. For the colloquialism, see Nit comb.
The lemuriform toothcomb, viewed from the underside of the lower jaw
A toothcomb (also called a tooth comb or dental comb) is a dental structure found in some mammals, comprising a group of front teeth arranged in a manner that facilitates grooming, similar to a hair comb. The toothcomb occurs in lemuriform primates (which include lemurs and lorisoids), treeshrews, colugos, hyraxes, and some African antelopes. The structures evolved independently in different types of mammals through convergent evolution and vary both in dental composition and structure. In most mammals the comb is formed by a group of teeth with fine spaces between them. The toothcombs in most mammals include incisors only, while in lemuriform primates they include incisors and canine teeth that tilt forward at the front of the lower jaw, followed by a canine-shaped first premolar. The toothcombs of colugos and hyraxes take a different form with the individual incisors being serrated, providing multiple tines per tooth.
The toothcomb is usually used for grooming. While licking the fur clean, the animal will run the toothcomb through the fur to comb it. Fine grooves or striations are usually cut into the teeth during grooming by the hair and may be seen on the sides of the teeth when viewed through a scanning electron microscope. The toothcomb is kept clean by either the tongue or, in the case of lemuriforms, the sublingua, a specialized "under-tongue". The toothcomb can have other functions, such as food procurement and bark gouging. Within lemuriforms, fork-marked lemurs and indriids have more robust toothcombs to support these secondary functions. In some lemurs, such as the aye-aye, the toothcomb has been lost completely and replaced with other specialized dentition.
In lemuriform primates, the toothcomb has been used by scientists in the interpretation of the evolution of lemurs and their kin. They are thought to have evolved from early adapiform primates around the Eocene or earlier. One popular hypothesis is that they evolved from European adapids, but the fossil record suggests that they evolved from an older lineage that migrated to Africa during the Paleocene (66 to 55 mya) and might have evolved from early cercamoniines from Asia. Fossil primates such as Djebelemur, 'Anchomomys' milleri, and Plesiopithecus may have been their closest relatives. The lack of a distinct toothcomb in the fossil record before to 40 mya has created a conflict with molecular clock studies that suggest an older divergence between lemurs and lorisoids, and the existence of a ghost lineage of lemuriform primates in Africa.
A toothcomb (also called a tooth comb or dental comb) is a dental structure found in some mammals, comprising a group of front teeth arranged in a manner...
Adapiforms, however, lack a specialized arrangement of teeth, known as a toothcomb, which nearly all living strepsirrhines possess. A more recent hypothesis...
obtain it from their diets. Lemuriform primates are characterized by a toothcomb, a specialized set of teeth in the front, lower part of the mouth mostly...
infraorder, Lorisiformes. Lemuriform primates are characterized by a toothcomb, a specialized set of teeth in the front, lower part of the mouth mostly...
been reanalysed as "fine toothcomb" and then shortened to "toothcomb", or changed into forms such as "the finest of toothcombs". An Afro pick is a type...
Lorises, like most strepsirrhines, have a special adaptation called a "toothcomb" in their lower front teeth, which they use for grooming their fur and...
differences. Most noticeably, adapiforms lack a key derived trait, the toothcomb, and possibly the toilet-claw, found not only in extant (living) strepsirrhines...
lemuriforms, it is thought to be used to remove hair and other debris from the toothcomb, a specialized dental structure used to comb the fur during oral grooming...
down and face outwards), forming a toothcomb, which is used for personal and social grooming and feeding. The toothcomb is kept clean by the sublingua or...
popular taxonomy that clumps the clade of toothcombed primates into one infraorder and the extinct, non-toothcombed adapiforms into another, both within the...
anatomical specializations characteristic of living strepsirrhines, such as a toothcomb, a toilet-claw on the second pedal digit, and a reduction in the size...
elbows. The teeth in its lower jaw form a comb-like structure called a toothcomb that is used for scraping resin from tree bark. The pygmy slow loris mates...
adaptations for grooming, including a toilet-claw on its second toe and a toothcomb. Sifakas move by vertical clinging and leaping, meaning they maintain...
sometimes hidden by their long fur. They groom themselves using their toothcomb.[citation needed] As their name would suggest, they have a rust-coloured...
through morphologically distinct dentition in the form of an adapted toothcomb. In the wild envenomation occurs from intraspecific competition; whereby...
Malagasy genus and its toothcomb was shorter and broader. More recently, the structure and general presence of the toothcomb in Bugtilemur has been questioned...
branches firmly. Like other strepsirrhines the potto has a moist nose, toothcomb, and a toilet claw on the second toe of the hind legs. In the hands and...
has a special dental arrangement on the front lower jaw similar to the toothcomb seen in strepsirrhine primates, which is used during allogrooming to comb...
morphology of their molar teeth and the modified number of teeth in their toothcomb (a specialized grooming structure found in lemuriforms), have long suggested...
popular taxonomy that clumps the clade of toothcombed primates into one infraorder and the extinct, non-toothcombed adapiforms into another, both within the...
T39758A10263081.en. Retrieved 24 December 2019. Alterman, L. (1995). "Toxins and toothcombs: potential allospecific chemical defenses in Nycticebus and Perodicticus"...
fruit, and tree gums. They have pectinate (comb-like) incisors called toothcombs, and the dental formula: 2.1.3.32.1.3.3 They are active at night. After...
popular taxonomy that clumps the clade of toothcombed primates into one infraorder and the extinct, non-toothcombed adapiforms into another, both within the...
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