A supernumerary tooth in a 1.7 million-year-old Australopithecus robustus from Swartkrans, South Africa.
The maxillary dental arch of a partial cranium of an adult specimen of Australopithecus robustus shows the presence of a supernumerary tooth between the right first and second incisors. The fossil specimen, SK 83, is from Swartkrans Member 1 sediments, considered, on the basis of associated fauna, to be approximately 1.7 million yr old. The specimen was analyzed macroscopically, stereomacroscopically and by X-ray computed tomography. The anatomic position and the morphology of the tooth are consistent with a diagnosis of supernumerary lateral incisor rather than a mesiodens or a retained deciduous tooth. This is the first description of a supernumerary tooth found in Plio-Pleistocene hominid fossils from South African cave deposits.
Ripamonti
U
U
Bone Research Laboratory, Medical Research Council/University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. 177ripa@chiron.wits.ac.za
Petit
J C
JC
Thackeray
J F
JF
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D005580:Fossils; D049690:History, Ancient; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D007180:Incisor / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D008437:Maxilla / Q000473:pathology; D010161:Paleodontology; D013019:South Africa; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014096:Tooth, Supernumerary / Q000266:history*