The largest and earliest known sample of dental caries in an extinct mammal (Mammalia, Euarchonta, Microsyops latidens) and its ecological implications.

ABSTRACT: Dental cavities or caries is a common disease among modern humans, affecting almost every adult. Caries frequency has been used to study dietary change in humans over time, based on an inferred tie between the incidence of caries and a carbohydrate-rich diet. However, the disease is not unique to our species. Among non-human primates, there is also variation in caries frequency associated with diet, suggesting that this metric may provide a mechanism for studying diet in broader contexts, and across geological time. To date, very few studies have examined caries among fossil mammals, and none have done so among Eocene mammals. Here, we present our analysis of the largest sample to date of fossil caries in a single extinct mammal species, Microsyops latidens, a stem primate from the early E

SUBMITTER: Selig KR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8429469 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature