Hypsodonty in Mammals

This book explores the central importance of soil ingestion and earth surface processes in driving the evolution of tooth shape in mammals.

This book demonstrates how the natural ingestion of sediment acts as a forceful evolutionary determinant of mammalian tooth shape. With case-studies from around the globe, the author highlights the connections between large-scale surface processes and specific tooth wear patterns, drawing from examples both in the fossil record and present day.The evolution of high-crowned teeth, hypsodonty, is a defining characteristic of many terrestrial herbivores. To date, the most prominent focus in the study of the teeth of grazing herbivores has been co-evolution with grasses and grasslands. This book develops the idea further and looks at the myriad ways that soil can enter the diet. Madden then expands this analysis to examine the earth surface processes that mobilize sediment in the environment. The text delivers a global perspective on tooth wear and soil erosion, with examples from the islands of New Zealand to the South American Andes, highlighting how similar geological processes worldwide result in convergent evolution. The final chapter includes a review of elodonty in the fossil record and its environmental consequences. Offering new insights into geomorphology and adaptive and evolutionary morphology, this text will be of value to any researcher interested in the evolution of tooth size and shape.