Why is Primal Savagery cantrip acid and not slashing or poison?

[Spo]

From XGE:

Transmutation cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: S
Duration: Instantaneous

You channel primal magic to cause your teeth or fingernails to sharpen, ready to deliver a corrosive attack. Make a melee spell attack against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target takes 1d10 acid damage. After you make the attack, your teeth or fingernails return to normal.

At Higher Levels. The spell’s damage increases by 1d10 when you reach 5th level (2d10), 11th level (3d10), and 17th level (4d10).

You figure with sharpened teeth and nails it would be slashing (or MAYBE poison) as opposed to acid. Playing a shifter moon druid with this cantrip.

Am I missing something? I might ask DM for a change is damage type. Thoughts?

[Luccan]

Acid damage is slightly better than the other two options? I don't have another explanation

[Dork_Forge]

Acid damage is slightly better than the other two options? I don't have another explanation

Is acid better than magical slashing?

[Luccan]

Is acid better than magical slashing?

Spell rules get weird some times, especially on cantrips. I don't feel confident saying it would definitely be magical slashing, even though its from a spell. But that's a fair point, magical slashing would probably be better.

[MrCharlie]

Presumably, there weren't enough acid damage spells out there.

[Zhorn]

Presumably, there weren't enough acid damage spells out there.

Building off this, it could have been designed as type first, then theme (as opposed to theme first then type).

ie:
"We need another acid damage cantrip. there's already a ranged splash option, so lets go with melee, and we'll have it delivered with tooth and claw"

vs

"We'll make a tooth and claw style melee cantrip... only it will be acid damage for reasons?"

[Rara1212]

It was Magical Slashing/Piercing in the UA I think, but they swapped it to acid in the release.

[MrCharlie]

Building off this, it could have been designed as type first, then theme (as opposed to theme first then type).

ie:
"We need another acid damage cantrip. there's already a ranged splash option, so lets go with melee, and we'll have it delivered with tooth and claw"

vs

"We'll make a tooth and claw style melee cantrip... only it will be acid damage for reasons?"

It was Magical Slashing/Piercing in the UA I think, but they swapped it to acid in the release.
So it appears that answer C was correct-It was designed around a theme with a specific type, then editing came in and decided there weren't enough acid damaging cantrips.

I actually fully believe that's what happened, after hearing about how WOTC editing sometimes gets up to shenanigans before release.

[Kane0]

Casters are allergic to B/P/S and there was an opening for more Acid.

[Willie the Duck]

My assumption had always been so that druids played by players who said, "why are all the druid elemental spells fire of all things?" have a way to dispatch trolls.