Interspecific, ontogenetic, and life history variation in the tooth morphology of mole salamanders (Amphibia, Urodela, and Ambystomatidae).

Abstract

As revealed by scanning electron microscopy, three basic cusp shapes are found on the premaxillary teeth of mole salamanders: disc, cone, and club. In fully metamorphosed adults, tooth crowns are subdivided into labial and lingual cusps. Except for species of Linguaelapsus, the labial cusps of all adult bifid teeth are disc shaped; lingual cusp shape is more variable, but the taxonomic distribution of the various configurations is generally consistent within the subgroups Rhycosiredon, Ambystoma, and Linguaelapsus. The club shape appears to be a derived character state, but the cone and disc shapes may be either primitive or derived. Prior to the start of metamorphosis, all larvae have conical, monocuspid teeth. During metamorphosis these salamanders develop incipient bifid teeth that have the same basic adult pattern of cusp shapes but in which the cusps are smaller and more generalized. Crown morphology in paedomorphic ambystomatids is similar to that of older larvae; as such, paedomorphosis seems to interrupt and retard the ontogenetic sequence of development rather than to introduce (or reintroduce) novel morphologies into the developmental program. In larvae the crown is firmly attached to the tooth base along the putative zone of weakness, but in transformed adults the crown is separated from a pedicel by a narrow zone of fibrous connective tissue. This latter structural arrangement allows unidirectional lingual flexing of the crowns relative to the pedicel and appears to facilitate the process of tooth replacement.