Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The highly specialised dentitions of modern sharks enable them to exploit a wide range of food sources. Exceptional fossil preservation of three Late Devonian basal chondrichthyan taxa from the Anti-Atlas, Morocco, provides the unique opportunity to study these dentitions in detail, including their tooth histology, replacement patterns, and mineralisation sequences. Thin sections and CT-data of tooth files reveal a high histological diversity and evidence a noticeable disparity in mineralisation patterns early in chondrichthyan evolution. The presence of similar tooth histology and mineralisation patterns in phylogenetically and chronostratigraphically distant chondrichthyan taxa opposes a phylogenetic signal. Although the pseudoosteodont histotype is considered plesiomorphic, we found a high disparity regarding the arrangement of dental tissues in early chondrichthyans. Tooth size differences indicate slow tooth replacement rates for Ctenacanthus and Maghriboselache. Smaller differences in Phoebodus suggest an elevated rate. Tooth retention in Maghriboselache might constitute a precursor for the holocephalan evolution of tooth plates.
Source: Communications Biology
Authors: M. Greif, H. Botella, T. M. Scheyer, C. Klug
Institutions: University of Zurich, Universitat de València
Language: English
Subfield: Paleontology
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,190
OpenAlex ID: W4416959141