I was reading this article: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/959877 and it made me wonder. Ok, I can see that if you find a couple of teeth that are unlike any you’ve seen before you have something new, but to assign it a specific species seems like a jump.
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Tooth structure, count, position in the jaw, etc etc are all tied closely to species. For example, marsupials generally will have 3 premolars and 4 molars on each side of the upper and lower jaw while having more teeth overall than placental mammals, which have 4 premolars and 3 molars on each side of the upper and lower jaw.
Likewise it’s easy to tell the difference between canine teeth (dogs) and Equine teeth (horses). Additionally, all canines (and equines) will have unique tooth anatomy to each species. If you have a coyote and a domestic dog skull of approximately the same size, there will be marked differences in tooth layout and size, even if they are all canine teeth.
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