Toothcomb

The tooth comb is a occurring in the tree shrews and most wet nose monkeys tooth structure.

It consists of the incisors and canines of the lower jaw, these teeth project forward and are strikingly slender and elongated. The comb is made with the wet nose monkeys from 6 (4 incisors and canines 2 ) and in tree shrews from eight teeth ( 6 incisors and 2 canines ). Since canines are functional incisors, take the foremost premolar their function and are transformed accordingly. Also, often there is a gap between the ridge and the foremost premolar and between it and the underlying molars.

The tooth comb is used primarily for grooming, in addition he also serves as a " spoon " to hold soft fruit parts and plant juices. It is unlikely that this structure has evolved as an adaptation to the grooming, presumably food intake is the more original purpose.

Previously it was the tooth comb as evidence of the close relationship between tree shrews and primates. Due to the different number of teeth, this structure is, however, now only considered as convergent evolution.