Molar Morphology and Food Texture among Small-Bodied Insectivorous Mammals

This study investigated whether heterogeneity of physical properties in dietary items would be reflected in the molar dentitions of extant mammals that specialize on invertebrate prey. Measurements of six shearing crests were made on lower second molars in three pairs of microchiropteran species, one pair of insectivoran species, and one pair of primate species. The physical properties of prey species routinely consumed is distinctive within each of these taxonomic pairs. Hard- and soft-object feeding insectivores were statistically distinct from one another on the basis of differential development of shearing features on their molar dentitions. Specifically, soft-object feeders, those mammals that primarily consume moths, caterpillars, and worms, exhibit relatively more shearing development than do closely related taxa that have more generalized feeding patterns including large quantities of hard-bodied beetles.