Marginal tooth-bearing bones in the lower jaw of the recent australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri (Osteichthyes, Dipnoi).

Abstract

Developmental studies of the Recent Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, show that this species has two sets of functional tooth-bearing bones in the lower jaw of young hatchlings. These coincide with an early stage in the life history when the fish is strictly carnivorous. In N. forsteri, a paired tooth-bearing dentary and an unpaired symphyseal bone and tooth develop slightly later than the permanent vomerine, prearticular, and pterygopalatine tooth plates, which appear at stage 44 of development, and erupt with the permanent dentition between stages 46 and 48, when the hatchling first starts to feed on small aquatic invertebrates. At these stages of development, all of the teeth are long, sharp, and conical and help to retain prey items in the mouth. Disappearance of the transient dentition coincides with complete eruption of the permanent tooth plates and precedes the change to an omnivorous diet. Existence of a transient marginal dentition in this species of lungfish suggests that the presence of an apparently similar marginal dentition in adults of many species of Palaeozoic dipnoans should be considered in phylogenetic analyses of genera within the group, and when analysing the relationships of dipnoans with other primitive animals. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.