Proces wymiany zębów u wybranych grup ssaków w ujęciu ewolucyjnym

Dental replacement in mammals is one of the most important evolutionary processes in these vertebrates. First mammals had many primitive features inherited from the reptilian ancestors. Already at a very early stage the teeth diversified into the incisors, canines, premolars, and molars. A tendency to reduce the tooth count also appeared. The groundbreaking innovation was the emergence of diphyodont replacement pattern (two generations of dentition, deciduous and permanent), which is a characteristic feature of mammals, in contrast to the polyphyodont reptiles. The evolution of dental exchange went towards the decreasing number of teeth being replaced. This paper aims at providing readers with information on main stages of the process initiated over 200 million years ago, which resulted in a notable diversification of both the dentition patterns and dental replacement types, observed in living mammals. Key words: dental replacement, diphyodonty, mammalian evolution, polyphyodonty