Daily deposition of dentine in juvenile Alligator and assessment of tooth replacement rates using incremental line counts
✍ Scribed by Gregory M. Erickson
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1996
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 558 KB
- Volume
- 228
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0362-2525
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Incremental lines were found in the dentine of Alligator mississippiensis and Caiman crocodilus. Fluorochrome markers indicate that these increments form daily in juvenile alligators. By counting the total number of incremental lines in a functional tooth and subtracting the number in the successive replacement tooth, it is possible to ascertain the replacement rate for the tooth position. Counts done on teeth of mean size for individuals give reasonable estimates of the mean replacement rates for the entire dentition. The tooth replacement rates were monitored for 11 months in juvenile alligators to test this methodology. The hypothesized reduction of tooth replacement rate with ontogeny was supported. o 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.