Iron-coated Komodo dragon teeth and the complex dental enamel of carnivorous reptiles

Aaron R. H. LeBlanc; Alexander P. Morrell; Slobodan Sirovica; Maisoon Al-Jawad; David Labonte; Domenic C. D’Amore; Christofer Clemente; Siyang Wang; Finn Giuliani; Catriona M. McGilvery; Michael Pittman; Thomas G. Kaye; Colin Stevenson; Joe Capon; Benjamin Tapley; Simon Spiro; Owen Addison

doi:10.1038/s41559-024-02477-7

Back

Iron-coated Komodo dragon teeth and the complex dental enamel of carnivorous reptiles

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Iron-coated Komodo dragon teeth and the complex dental enamel of carnivorous reptiles

Aaron R. H. LeBlanc, Alexander P. Morrell, Slobodan Sirovica, Maisoon Al-Jawad, David Labonte, Domenic C. D’Amore, Christofer Clemente, Siyang Wang, Finn Giuliani, Catriona M. McGilvery, …

Nature Ecology & Evolution, Vol.8, pp.1711-1722

2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-024-02477-7

Files and links (1)

pdf

s41559-024-02477-75.21 MBDownload View

Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access

Abstract

herpetology

palaeontology

Abstract Komodo dragons ( Varanus komodoensis ) are the largest extant predatory lizards and their ziphodont (serrated, curved and blade-shaped) teeth make them valuable analogues for studying tooth structure, function and comparing with extinct ziphodont taxa, such as theropod dinosaurs. Like other ziphodont reptiles, V. komodoensis teeth possess only a thin coating of enamel that is nevertheless able to cope with the demands of their puncture–pull feeding. Using advanced chemical and structural imaging, we reveal that V. komodoensis teeth possess a unique adaptation for maintaining their cutting edges: orange, iron-enriched coatings on their tooth serrations and tips. Comparisons with other extant varanids and crocodylians revealed that iron sequestration is probably widespread in reptile enamels but it is most striking in V. komodoensis and closely related ziphodont species, suggesting a crucial role in supporting serrated teeth. Unfortunately, fossilization confounds our ability to consistently detect similar iron coatings in fossil teeth, including those of ziphodont dinosaurs. However, unlike V. komodoensis , some theropods possessed specialized enamel along their tooth serrations, resembling the wavy enamel found in herbivorous hadrosaurid dinosaurs. These discoveries illustrate unexpected and disparate specializations for maintaining ziphodont teeth in predatory reptiles.

Details

Title: Iron-coated Komodo dragon teeth and the complex dental enamel of carnivorous reptiles
Authors: Aaron R. H. LeBlanc (Corresponding Author) - King's College London
Alexander P. Morrell - King's College London
Slobodan Sirovica - King's College London
Maisoon Al-Jawad - University of Leeds
David Labonte - Imperial College London
Domenic C. D’Amore - Daemen College
Christofer Clemente - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Siyang Wang - Imperial College London
Finn Giuliani - Imperial College London
Catriona M. McGilvery - Imperial College London
Michael Pittman - Chinese University of Hong Kong
Thomas G. Kaye - Foundation for Scientific Advancement
Colin Stevenson - Crocodiles of the World
Joe Capon - Zoological Society of London
Benjamin Tapley - Zoological Society of London
Simon Spiro - Zoological Society of London
Owen Addison - King's College London
Publication details: Nature Ecology & Evolution, Vol.8, pp.1711-1722
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
Date published: 2024
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-024-02477-7
ISSN: 2397-334X
Copyright note: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Data Availability: All data, measurements and images are either in the manuscript or Supplementary Information. Raw synchrotron XRF and XRD datasets are made publicly available through the relevant synchrotron facility 3 years after each experiment under a CC-BY-4 license (see Supplementary Table 2 for experiment numbers).
Organisation Unit: School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991050594002621
Output Type: Journal article

Metrics

2 File views/ downloads

28 Record Views

11 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Ecology; Evolutionary Biology

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

Source: InCites