Abstract

MCAFEE, Robert K  and  NAPLES, Virginia L. Notice on the ocurrence of supernumerary teeth in the two-toad sloths Choloepus didactylus and C. hoffmanni. Mastozool. neotrop. [online]. 2012, vol.19, n.2, pp.163-178. ISSN 0327-9383.

Supernumerary teeth occur in nearly all modern mammalian orders, although no previous cases have been published for extant pilosans. We report here three specimens of the sloth genus Choloepus, two C. hoffmanni and one C. didactylus, exhibiting supernumerary teeth. All duplicated teeth are maxillary, and all but one on the right side. One C. hoffmanni bears an additional left tooth, suggesting duplication is neither species nor toothrow-side specific. Sloth teeth erupt as simple rounded cones and the different "cusp" patterns characteristic of each extant and extinct genus arise from wear and the differential spacing of upper versus lower dentitions.

Keywords : Choloepus; Dental anomaly; Megalonychidae; Supernumerary teeth; Xenarthra.

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