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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Front Oral Biol. 2009 Sep 21;13:74–79. doi: 10.1159/000242395

Figure 1. Enamel prisms and the non-mammalian/mammalian transition.

Figure 1

Scanning electron micrographs resolve long and parallel enamel prisms in omnivores (human, Homo sapiens, and pig, Sus scrofa). Note the pronounced plywood structure in ruminants (steer, Bos taurus) and marsupials (Virginia opossum, Didelphis virginiana). The enamel layer of dolphins (La Plata river dolphin, Pontoporia blainvillei) is fairly thin for eutherians and consists mostly of radial enamel. The Spiny-tailed lizard (Uromastyx maliensis) is unique among squamates as its enamel is prismatic. In most squamates (e.g. Green Iguana, Iguana iguana) and amphibians (e.g. Leopard frog, Rana pipiens) the enamel is devoid of prisms.