The Relationship of Enamel Microstructure to Molar Function and Wear in Strepsirhine Primates

这一研究将有助于理解牙齿微观结构与其功能的关系。具体地说，这项研究将集中在六种相关形式的狐猴灵长类动物的不同磨牙磨损上。虽然这些物种是相关的，但它们证明了饮食习惯的明显差异，从而反映了食物选择对牙齿磨损的影响。在微观层面上，狐猴的磨牙是由釉质棱柱组成的，这些釉质棱柱被称为棱柱边界的不连续部分从不同取向的微晶中分离出来。边界是差动磨损的来源，棱柱轴相对于磨损表面的取向也是差动磨损的来源。磨损模式可以从杜克大学灵长类中心身体的牙齿扫描电子显微镜中确定。在狐猴体内，磨牙形态有很大的差异，这影响了每个物种剪切食物的能力。MAAS将测试粗大的形态差异是否与微观结构的差异平行。这是灵长类牙齿进化的一个方面，在很大程度上还没有被研究过。澄清这个问题将有助于解释灵长类化石记录。

This research will contribute to the understanding of the relationship of microscopic structure of teeth and their function. Specifically the research will focus on differenrtial molar wear in six, related forms of lemurid primates. While these species are related, they evidence clear differences in dietary practices and hence reflect the impact of food choice on dental wear. At a microscopic level, the molar teeth of lemurids are composed of enamel prisms bundled into crystallites separated from differently oriented crystallites by discontinuities called prism boundaries. The boundaries are sources of differential wear, as is the orietation of the prism axis relative to the wear surface. Wear patterns can be determined from scanning electron micrographs of teeth from cadavers at the Duke University Primate Center. Within the Lemurids, there is significant variation in molar morphology which impacts each species' ability to shear foodstuffs. Maas will test whether the gross morphological differences are paralleled by differences in the microstructure. This is an aspect of primate dental evolution which has been largely unexplored. Clarifying this issue will assist in interpreting the primate fossil record.