Tooth replacement in the frog Rana temporaria

✍ Scribed by R. Lawson

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1966
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 556 KB
• Volume: 119
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0362-2525
• DOI: 10.1002/jmor.1051190209

✦ Synopsis

The development and replacement of teeth in the frog R a n a temporaria is analyzed by dividing the life cycle of the tooth into a number of stages. These stages are identified by the examination of alizarin whole mounts. The dentition in this species is fairly complete and the percentage of functional loci is approximately 74. The teeth in alternate loci are usually at about the same stage in development.

The low percentage of non-functional loci is accounted for by the retention of functional teeth over a large fraction of the total life cycle time and the relatively rapid ankylosis of replacement teeth. It is suggested that tooth replacement is essentially a process which involves teeth in alternate loci and that the replacement waves (which connect alternate loci) run parallel to the longitudinal axis of the jaw and are of infinite length. This basic pattern is obscured by many breaks which occur in the replacement waves. The presence of such breaks may be accounted for by variations in the time intervals between the successive stimuli which initiate the Zahnreihen, or simply by the acceleration or deceleration of the development of teeth in one or more loci.