Rolling of the jaw is essential for mammalian chewing and tribosphenic molar function

Over the past two centuries, mammalian chewing and related anatomical features have been among the most discussed of all vertebrate evolutionary innovations1–3. Chief among these features are two characters: the dentary-only mandible, and the tribosphenic molar with its triangulated upper cusps and lower talonid basin3–5. The flexible mandibular joint and the unfused symphysis of ancestral mammals—in combination with transformations of the adductor musculature and palate—are thought to have permitted greater mobility of each lower jaw, or hemimandible6,7. Following the appearance of precise dental occlusion near the origin of the mammalian crown8,9, therians evolved a tribosphenic molar with a craggy topography that is presumed to have been used to catch, cut and crush food. Here we describe the ancestral tribosphenic therian chewing stroke, as conserved in the short-tailed opossum Monodelphis domestica: it is a simple symmetrical sequence of lower tooth-row eversion and inversion during jaw opening and closing, respectively, enacted by hemimandibular long-axis rotation. This sequence is coupled with an eversion–inversion rotational grinding stroke. We infer that the ancestral therian chewing stroke relied heavily on long-axis rotation, including symmetrical eversion and inversion (inherited from the first mammaliaforms) as well as a mortar-and-pestle rotational grinding stroke that was inherited from stem therians along with the tribosphenic molar. The yaw-dominated masticatory cycle of primates, ungulates and other bunodont therians is derived; it is necessitated by a secondarily fused jaw symphysis, and permitted by the reduction of high, interlocking cusps10–12. The development of an efficient masticatory system—culminating in the tribosphenic apparatus—allowed early mammals to begin the process of digestion by shearing and crushing food into small boli instead of swallowing larger pieces in the reptilian manner, which necessitates a long, slow and wholly chemical breakdown. The vast diversity of mammalian teeth has emerged from the basic tribosphenic groundplan13.