lepidomorium

(plural lepidomoria))

a scale or tooth comprising a thin-walled cone of dentine covered by a layer of enamel and having a bony base. The pulp cavity has a single capillary loop and there is a basal canal and a posterior opening in the neck region (neck canal). Simple scales with this basic structure have been found in Carboniferous sharks. This originally hypothesised structure attempts to explain the origin of denticles or placoid scales of modern sharks and even the scales of Teleostomi as well as teeth

the basic unit of squamation and dentition. Scales and teeth both form at the level of the basement membrane at the mesoderm - ectoderm boundary. In scale formation, the epidermal (ectoderm) cells form the base, which is invaded by mesenchyme recruited from the dermis