Taphonomic Interpretation of Enamel-Less Teeth in the Shotgun Local Fauna (Paleocene, Wyoming)
Year: 1981
Type: article
Abstract: A rare form of tooth preservation, in which most or all enamel has been removed from teeth, without loss of dentine or cementum, has been recognized in the Paleocene Shotgun local fauna.These teeth closely resemble teeth digested and defecated by extant crocodilians, suggesting that Shotgun enamel-less teeth may also be the remains of crocodilian prey.Since crocodilian digestion decalcifies tooth tissues, leaving only the organic matrix of dentine and cementum in the feces, preservation of such teeth as fossils requires a mechanism for remineralizing them.The proposed mechanism involves remineralization by amorphous hydroxyapatite within a reducing microenvironment.Analysis of the identity and conformation of tooth tissues preserved on enamelless teeth, modifications of the histologic structure of their dentine and cementum, pyrite present in their pulp cavities, and the crystallinity and composition of their dentine confirms the interpretation that Shotgun enamelless teeth were digested by crocodilians and then remineralized before complete decomposition could occur.Other mechanisms of enamel loss, such as digestion by non-crocodilian vertebrates, abrasion, enamel spalling, diagenetic dissolution, or dissolution by plant acids, do not satisfactorily account for the observed attributes of enamel-less teeth.
Author: Daniel C. Fisher
Language: English
Subfield: Paleontology
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W167452672