Abnormal Fossil Upper Molar of Pongo from Thailand: Quaternary Climatic Changes in Southeast Asia as a Possible Cause
Résumé
We interpret an unusual left M 3 attributed to Pongo from the Late Middle Pleistocene of Thailand to be an abnormal tooth rather than a supernumerary molar. Its peculiar morphology cannot be related to classical known causes that affect the dental germ: Gemination, schizodontia, synodontia. The ontogenic mechanism that might have led to the morphology of the tooth perhaps reflects stress related to a phase of marked climatic changes during the Late Middle Pleistocene in Southeast Asia.