Dental Formula in the Muroidea

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Abstract
Several students of mammals seem favorably inclined toward the theory that in certain rodent groups the tooth usually identified as the first molar is in reality a deciduous premolar, the permanent premolar that normally replaces it being suppressed. Others state or imply that it is the permanent premolar that is represented, and still others do not make themselves clear as to whether the theory applies only to some or to all rodents. In any case, advocates of these theories think that the rear cheek-teeth are not the third molars but the second, and agree in applying these theories to the muroids. Recent statements in the Journal of Mammalogy more or less favoring the premolar theory have been made by D. H. Johnson (33, 70–72,1952) and E. M. Hooper (36, 298–299,1955). Hooper refers to the idea as an hypothesis, but Johnson suggests that it is mostly...

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