Geometric morphometric analysis as a proxy to evaluate age-related change in molar shape variation of low-crowned Notoungulata (Mammalia)

Autores
Scarano, Alejo Carlos; Vera, Bárbara Soledad
Año de publicación
2017
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
Shape and age variation in dentition of Paleogene extinct native South American ungulates (Notoungulata) has been traditionally described using qualitative and quantitative approaches, and has played a controversial role in the systematics of several groups. Such is the case of the Notopithecidae, a group of notoungulates with low‐crowned teeth, known from the middle Eocene of Patagonia (Argentina). In this group, as well as in other contemporary families, extreme morphological changes associated to increasing dental wear were originally assumed to represent taxonomic differences; thus, dozens of species were erected, clearly reflecting the difficulty of defining discrete characters. In this contribution, a total of 89 upper molars and 91 lower molars were analyzed distributed in two factors, wear and species; three species of notopithecids were considered as study case, Notopithecus adapinus, Antepithecus brachystephanus, and Transpithecus obtentus, based on the large and well‐identified sample of upper and lower molars for each species. We have coupled geometric morphometric analyses with traditional comparative methods to get a better understanding and interpretation of both the changes in tooth shape contour and the link between shape and ontogeny. In addition, we evaluate the utility of this approach to identify which changes are strictly wear‐related and also test the qualitative characteristics used for diagnosing and differentiating notopithecid species. Our study yielded consistent results when applying independent geometric morphometric analyses on complex structures such as brachydont molar teeth. The landmark data is highly congruent with alternative sources of evidence, such as morphological studies using discrete characters. In notopithecid species, wear is the main factor affecting molar shape, followed by species (in lower molars) and allometry; in addition, lower teeth morphology is more definitive in separating species than upper molars, a fact that entails a key point for systematic studies of Paleogene brachydont notoungulates.
Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo
Materia
Paleontología
Brachydont
Cheek teeth
Middle Eocene
Wear
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Repositorio
SEDICI (UNLP)
Institución
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
OAI Identificador
oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/101177

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network_name_str SEDICI (UNLP)
spelling Geometric morphometric analysis as a proxy to evaluate age-related change in molar shape variation of low-crowned Notoungulata (Mammalia)Scarano, Alejo CarlosVera, Bárbara SoledadPaleontologíaBrachydontCheek teethMiddle EoceneWearShape and age variation in dentition of Paleogene extinct native South American ungulates (Notoungulata) has been traditionally described using qualitative and quantitative approaches, and has played a controversial role in the systematics of several groups. Such is the case of the Notopithecidae, a group of notoungulates with low‐crowned teeth, known from the middle Eocene of Patagonia (Argentina). In this group, as well as in other contemporary families, extreme morphological changes associated to increasing dental wear were originally assumed to represent taxonomic differences; thus, dozens of species were erected, clearly reflecting the difficulty of defining discrete characters. In this contribution, a total of 89 upper molars and 91 lower molars were analyzed distributed in two factors, wear and species; three species of notopithecids were considered as study case, Notopithecus adapinus, Antepithecus brachystephanus, and Transpithecus obtentus, based on the large and well‐identified sample of upper and lower molars for each species. We have coupled geometric morphometric analyses with traditional comparative methods to get a better understanding and interpretation of both the changes in tooth shape contour and the link between shape and ontogeny. In addition, we evaluate the utility of this approach to identify which changes are strictly wear‐related and also test the qualitative characteristics used for diagnosing and differentiating notopithecid species. Our study yielded consistent results when applying independent geometric morphometric analyses on complex structures such as brachydont molar teeth. The landmark data is highly congruent with alternative sources of evidence, such as morphological studies using discrete characters. In notopithecid species, wear is the main factor affecting molar shape, followed by species (in lower molars) and allometry; in addition, lower teeth morphology is more definitive in separating species than upper molars, a fact that entails a key point for systematic studies of Paleogene brachydont notoungulates.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo2017-10info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionArticulohttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdf216-227http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/101177enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://ri.conicet.gov.ar/11336/42192info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jmor.20766info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/0362-2525info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1002/jmor.20766info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/hdl/11336/42192info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)reponame:SEDICI (UNLP)instname:Universidad Nacional de La Platainstacron:UNLP2025-09-29T11:21:00Zoai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/101177Institucionalhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/Universidad públicaNo correspondehttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/oai/snrdalira@sedici.unlp.edu.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:13292025-09-29 11:21:00.746SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Platafalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Geometric morphometric analysis as a proxy to evaluate age-related change in molar shape variation of low-crowned Notoungulata (Mammalia)
title Geometric morphometric analysis as a proxy to evaluate age-related change in molar shape variation of low-crowned Notoungulata (Mammalia)
spellingShingle Geometric morphometric analysis as a proxy to evaluate age-related change in molar shape variation of low-crowned Notoungulata (Mammalia)
Scarano, Alejo Carlos
Paleontología
Brachydont
Cheek teeth
Middle Eocene
Wear
title_short Geometric morphometric analysis as a proxy to evaluate age-related change in molar shape variation of low-crowned Notoungulata (Mammalia)
title_full Geometric morphometric analysis as a proxy to evaluate age-related change in molar shape variation of low-crowned Notoungulata (Mammalia)
title_fullStr Geometric morphometric analysis as a proxy to evaluate age-related change in molar shape variation of low-crowned Notoungulata (Mammalia)
title_full_unstemmed Geometric morphometric analysis as a proxy to evaluate age-related change in molar shape variation of low-crowned Notoungulata (Mammalia)
title_sort Geometric morphometric analysis as a proxy to evaluate age-related change in molar shape variation of low-crowned Notoungulata (Mammalia)
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Scarano, Alejo Carlos
Vera, Bárbara Soledad
author Scarano, Alejo Carlos
author_facet Scarano, Alejo Carlos
Vera, Bárbara Soledad
author_role author
author2 Vera, Bárbara Soledad
author2_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Paleontología
Brachydont
Cheek teeth
Middle Eocene
Wear
topic Paleontología
Brachydont
Cheek teeth
Middle Eocene
Wear
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv Shape and age variation in dentition of Paleogene extinct native South American ungulates (Notoungulata) has been traditionally described using qualitative and quantitative approaches, and has played a controversial role in the systematics of several groups. Such is the case of the Notopithecidae, a group of notoungulates with low‐crowned teeth, known from the middle Eocene of Patagonia (Argentina). In this group, as well as in other contemporary families, extreme morphological changes associated to increasing dental wear were originally assumed to represent taxonomic differences; thus, dozens of species were erected, clearly reflecting the difficulty of defining discrete characters. In this contribution, a total of 89 upper molars and 91 lower molars were analyzed distributed in two factors, wear and species; three species of notopithecids were considered as study case, Notopithecus adapinus, Antepithecus brachystephanus, and Transpithecus obtentus, based on the large and well‐identified sample of upper and lower molars for each species. We have coupled geometric morphometric analyses with traditional comparative methods to get a better understanding and interpretation of both the changes in tooth shape contour and the link between shape and ontogeny. In addition, we evaluate the utility of this approach to identify which changes are strictly wear‐related and also test the qualitative characteristics used for diagnosing and differentiating notopithecid species. Our study yielded consistent results when applying independent geometric morphometric analyses on complex structures such as brachydont molar teeth. The landmark data is highly congruent with alternative sources of evidence, such as morphological studies using discrete characters. In notopithecid species, wear is the main factor affecting molar shape, followed by species (in lower molars) and allometry; in addition, lower teeth morphology is more definitive in separating species than upper molars, a fact that entails a key point for systematic studies of Paleogene brachydont notoungulates.
Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo
description Shape and age variation in dentition of Paleogene extinct native South American ungulates (Notoungulata) has been traditionally described using qualitative and quantitative approaches, and has played a controversial role in the systematics of several groups. Such is the case of the Notopithecidae, a group of notoungulates with low‐crowned teeth, known from the middle Eocene of Patagonia (Argentina). In this group, as well as in other contemporary families, extreme morphological changes associated to increasing dental wear were originally assumed to represent taxonomic differences; thus, dozens of species were erected, clearly reflecting the difficulty of defining discrete characters. In this contribution, a total of 89 upper molars and 91 lower molars were analyzed distributed in two factors, wear and species; three species of notopithecids were considered as study case, Notopithecus adapinus, Antepithecus brachystephanus, and Transpithecus obtentus, based on the large and well‐identified sample of upper and lower molars for each species. We have coupled geometric morphometric analyses with traditional comparative methods to get a better understanding and interpretation of both the changes in tooth shape contour and the link between shape and ontogeny. In addition, we evaluate the utility of this approach to identify which changes are strictly wear‐related and also test the qualitative characteristics used for diagnosing and differentiating notopithecid species. Our study yielded consistent results when applying independent geometric morphometric analyses on complex structures such as brachydont molar teeth. The landmark data is highly congruent with alternative sources of evidence, such as morphological studies using discrete characters. In notopithecid species, wear is the main factor affecting molar shape, followed by species (in lower molars) and allometry; in addition, lower teeth morphology is more definitive in separating species than upper molars, a fact that entails a key point for systematic studies of Paleogene brachydont notoungulates.
publishDate 2017
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2017-10
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Articulo
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
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dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/101177
url http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/101177
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
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info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jmor.20766
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/0362-2525
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1002/jmor.20766
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/hdl/11336/42192
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
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rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
216-227
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