Lemur of mouse lemurs, the gray mouse lemur ("M. murinus"), golden-brown mouse lemur ("M. ravelobensis"), and Goodman's mouse lemur ("M. lehilahytsara") were considered the same species until recently, when genetic tests identified them as cryptic species. The lemur dentition is heterodont (having multiple tooth morphologies) and derives from an ancestral primate permanent dentition of . Indriids, sportive lemurs, the aye-aye, and the extinct sloth lemurs, monkey lemurs, and koala lemurs have reduced dentitions, having lost incisors, canines, or premolars. The ancestral deciduous dentition is , but young indriids, aye-ayes, koala lemurs, sloth lemurs, and probably monkey lemurs have fewer deciduous teeth.
Dentition and so the sample of teeth available to archaeologists is much more extensive and therefore more representative. Dentition is particularly useful in tracking ancient populations' movements, because there are differences in the shapes of incisors, the number of grooves on molars, presence/absence of wisdom teeth, and extra cusps on particular teeth. These differences can not only be associated with different populations across space, but also change over time so that the study of the characteristics of teeth could say which population one is dealing with, and at what point in that population's history they are. A dinosaur's dentition included all