Re: Serration variation

["Mickey Mortimer" <mickey_mortimer@email.msn.com>]

Toby White wrote-

>Why?  Serrated teeth are a common pattern in both Crurotarsi and dinos, as
>well as aetosaurs (to the extent a foliate tooth is an extension of the
>same principle, which it likely isn't).  Serrated teeth do not appear below
>the basal archosaurs, so far as I know. Their appearance seems to be
>coordinated with loss of palatal teeth, which makes some intuitive
>biomechanical sense.  What's the problem?


I have two comments regarding this serration debate:
1. Serrated teeth are known outside of Archosauria- iguanids and varanids
have serrations at least.
2. Small tooth size does not always indicate the lack of serrations, as seen
in Koparion douglassi, a troodontid with serrated teeth two millimeters
long.  Obviously small teeth aren't incapable of having serrations and the
issue probably has more to do with diet than size (although these are
sometimes correlated).

Mickey Mortimer