Mammal Molar Size Ratios and the Inhibitory Cascade at the Intraspecific Scale.

ABSTRACT: Mammalian molar crowns form a module in which measurements of size for individual teeth within a tooth row covary with one another. Molar crown size covariation is proposed to fit the inhibitory cascade model (ICM) or its variant the molar module component (MMC) model, but the inability of the former model to fit across biological scales is a concern in the few cases where it has been tested in Primates. The ICM has thus far failed to explain patterns of intraspecific variation, an intermediate biological scale, even though it explains patterns at both smaller organ-level and larger between-species biological scales. Studies of this topic in a much broader range of taxa are needed, but the properties of a sample appropriate for testing the ICM at the intraspecific level are unclear. Here,

SUBMITTER: Vitek NS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7750983 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature