Dental homologies and evolutionary transformations in Caviomorpha (Hystricognathi, Rodentia): new data from the Paleogene of Peruvian Amazonia

Abstract

Dental homologies and evolutionary transformations within caviomorph rodents have long been disputed. Here, we participate in these debates in providing new insights from the dental morphology of Paleogene caviomorphs from Peruvian Amazonia (Contamana and Shapaja). Their analyses and comparisons with many hystricognaths allow (1) to generalize some hypotheses previously proposed about occlusal morphology of caviomorph cheek teeth, and (2) to propose new ones. In caviomorphs, the third crest of upper teeth would correspond either to a mesoloph or to a mesolophule or to a combination of both. The transformation from a pentalophodont pattern to a tetralophodont pattern would be explained by the disappearance of the metaloph. Likewise, the transformation from a tetralophodont pattern to a trilophodont pattern is observed by the loss of the third crest. A direct transformation from a pentalophodont pattern to a trilophodont pattern is also observed. Concerning lower teeth, discrepancies of homologies are centered on the mesial cristids, which can be notably distinguished depending on their compositions and connections with other structures. The ancestral patterns of caviomorph lower molars and dp4s were likely tetralophodont and pentalophodont, respectively. However, schemes with five and four (even three) transverse cristids cannot be ruled out for the two loci, respectively