Cementum deposition as an age indicator in the brush-tailed possum, Trichosurus vulpecula Kerr (Marsupiala)

Abstract

Cementum layers were exposed in the mandibular molariform teeth of T. vulpecula using a simple etching and staining technique. These layers were independently counted by three observers in a preliminary sample of 84 teeth of unknown age, and 40 teeth of known age. No significant variation was found between the observers and their interpretation of the number of layers per tooth, nor was there a significant variation in the number of layers counted in each of the four molars of one jaw. In the teeth of known age, counts of the layers compared closely with age in years, although some variation was recorded between the three observers. Cementum layers resembling those found in the possum were also found in the third molar of a brush wallaby, Macropus rufogrisea (Desmarest).