A morphological study on the crown dimensions of the mandibular molars in Tupaia glis.

The crown dimensions of the mandibular molars in Tupaia glis were measured. All the mean values of crown diameters and areas were larger for the M1 molar than for the M2 and M3. The last two molars were more reduced in the talonid component than in the trigonid compared to the M1, and were more reduced in the buccolingual than in the mesiodistal direction. The most common molar size sequence (MSS) was M1 > M2 > M3, and this pattern was more frequently observed in the talonid component than in the trigonid. In the canonical discriminant analysis, all the cases of the M3 were discriminated correctly, but some cases of the first two molars were confused with each other. The molars size of the mandible was closely related to that of the maxilla.