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Built to last: The structure, function, and evolution of primate dental enamel
Author(s) -
Maas Mary Carol,
Dumont Elizabeth R.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
evolutionary anthropology: issues, news, and reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.401
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1520-6505
pISSN - 1060-1538
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1520-6505(1999)8:4<133::aid-evan4>3.0.co;2-f
Subject(s) - primate , enamel paint , evolutionary biology , dental enamel , biology , function (biology) , dentistry , paleontology , medicine
The teeth of every primate, living and extinct, are covered by a hard, durable layer of enamel. This is not unique: Almost all mammals have enamel‐covered teeth. In addition, all of the variations in enamel structure that occur in primates are also found in other groups of mammals. Nevertheless, the very complexity of enamel and the variation we see in it on the teeth of living and fossil primates raise questions about its evolutionary significance. Is the complex structure of primate enamel adaptive? What, if anything, does enamel structure tell us about primate phylogeny? To answer these questions, we need to look more closely at the characteristics of prismatic enamel in primates and at the distribution of those characteristics, both in relation to our knowledge of primate dental function and feeding ecology and from a phylogenetic perspective.