Some fossil teeth of small mammals, especially sciurids, present enamel crenulations that can be more or less developed. This feature is sometimes used for subdividing subfamilies as a diagnostic feature or apomorphy. I want to know if ontogeny can concur in the creation of such a pattern in the enamel teeth.
The relative development of tooth enamel crenulations are frequently used to discriminate between fossil species and infer their diet, but they can be misleading e.g. fall back feeders retain dental features that allow the short term exploitation of less preferred (usually hard) foods in the absence of preferred foods, thus giving them a competitive advantage over other species but potentially misleading the palaeontologist trying to interpret their diet from fossils.
It appears that tooth crenulations originate in the tooth germ but their degree of expression is determined by a complex interplay of hormones that promote or inhibit development. This can result in different degrees of development within a family or genus and explains why plesiomorphic features not usually expressed in more derived species can ‘suddenly’ reappear.
Hope this helps.
Glad to be of help!
For further information I suggest you take a look at "Mammal Teeth, origin, evolution and diversity" by Peter Ungar (2010).
Kind regards,
Matt
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