The study of mammalian evolution depends greatly on understanding the evolution of teeth
and the relationship of tooth shape to diet. Links between gross tooth shape, function and …

One motivation in the study of development is the discovery of mechanisms that may guide
evolutionary change. Here we report how development governs relative size and number of …

Studies of mammalian evolution frequently use data derived from the dentition 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 .
Dental characters are particularly central for inferring phylogenetic relationships of fossil taxa …

The extinction of dinosaurs at the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary was the seminal
event that opened the door for the subsequent diversification of terrestrial mammals. Our …

The Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction approximately 66 million years ago is conventionally
thought to have been a turning point in mammalian evolution 1 , 2 . Prior to that event …

This paper addresses the question of how close mammalian teeth are to ideal functional
forms. An ‘ideal’ form is a morphology predicted to be the best functional shape according to …

Over the past two decades, the development of methods for visualizing and analysing
specimens digitally, in three and even four dimensions, has transformed the study of living and …

This study investigates the effect of tooth sharpness on the force and energy necessary for a
tooth to divide foods of differing physical properties. The material properties of foods are …

How fast can a mammal evolve from the size of a mouse to the size of an elephant? Achieving
such a large transformation calls for major biological reorganization. Thus, the speed at …

The evolutionary relationships of extinct species are ascertained primarily through the analysis
of morphological characters. Character inter-dependencies can have a substantial effect …