SHORT NOTE
Supernumerary teeth in the deer mouse Peromyscus leucopus (Rodentia: Cricetidae)
 
More details
Hide details
1
Northern Illinois University
 
2
Burman University
 
 
Online publication date: 2020-06-05
 
 
Publication date: 2020-06-05
 
 
Corresponding author
Kristy Lee Tuttle   

Northern Illinois University
 
 
Hystrix It. J. Mamm. 2020;31(1):77-79
 
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Cases of supernumerary teeth and odontogenic masses in Rodentia are well documented in the literature, but statistically are still relatively uncommon findings. Odontogenic lesions present rarely in rodent families Cricetidae and Muridae, though extra teeth have been documented in Saccostomus, Mesembriomys, Zapus, Baiomys, Peromyscus, Mus, Orzomys, Microtus, and Necromys. The authors here report a possible example of atavistic diastemal teeth in a specimen of Peromyscus (Rodentia: Cricetidae) preserved in the teaching museum collections of Northern Illinois University NIU. To explore frequency of dental anomalies in Peromyscus, we examined a large population of 396 P. leucopus and 51 P. maniculatus housed in the collections of the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History and University of Alberta Museum of Zoology. Only one additional case was found, highlighting the probable rarity of such pathologies in this genus.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge FMNH and UAMZ for access to collections and FMNH for loan of specimens. A.R. Percequillo, H.G. Rodrigues, and F. Catzeflis provided valuable feedback and assistance. P. Bothwell and M. Jenkins assisted with digital microscopy and radiography. The authors also wish to acknowledge and thank the reviewers whose input greatly improved this paper.
eISSN:1825-5272
ISSN:0394-1914
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top