Determining the origin of teeth in vertebrates is an incredibly significant but notoriously difficult problem within palaeontology. Teeth didn't evolve in the mouths of our ancestors, but are first seen as part of the external skeletons of jawless fish as structures called 'odontodes'. These would later migrate into the mouth with the evolution of jaws, becoming the teeth we have today, but odontodes still remain present in the skin of modern cartilaginous fish, giving them their rough texture.

The oldest known odontodes are from the late Cambrian Period and represent the very first evidence for vertebrates in the fossil record. Unfortunately, they are only ever found as part of fragmentary pieces of exoskeleton, however, given that their specific construction is only known in vertebrates, there is little else they could possibly be…

Joining us for this episode is Dr Yara Haridy, University of Chicago, who set out to use modern new scanning techniques to better understand the nature of these first teeth and what they tell us about the evolution of vertebrates. What she discovered was unexpected, but also led to better understanding of the purpose of odontodes in the dermal exoskeletons of our ancestors.