title: Anatomical and genetic study of an ancient animal tooth showing brachyodont and hypsodont mixed taxonomical characteristics.
abstract: A non-human dental piece was found in a Roman Empire tomb dated the 3rd century A.C. in Zaragoza (Spain). The morphology of this piece showed mixed brachyodont (carnivores) and hypsodont (herbivores) characteristics. As a result, the taxonomical assignation of the piece was impossible. Therefore, a protocol based on the DNA sequence of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 mitochondrial region (COI) was applied. For this purpose, a pair of primers able to amplify this region in a large variety of animals was designed. The results point to a species of the Genus Bos (Family Bovidae). This assignation was later confirmed by these quencing of a short fragment of the mitochondrial D-loop region. A complete morphological description of the tooth is presented together with the DNA sequence study and comparison protocol.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Anatomía, Embriología y Genética Animal, Universidad de Zaragoza, Miguel Servet , Zaragoza, Spain. monteagu@unizar.es.
authors.forename: L V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Monteagudo
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Obón
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Whyte
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Tejedor
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Whyte
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cisneros
mesh_terms: D018436:Ancient Lands; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002417:Cattle; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013030:Spain; D014070:Tooth / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000378:metabolism