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Plastiras CA, Thiery G, Guy F, Alba DM, Nishimura T, Kostopoulos DS, Merceron G. Investigating the dietary niches of fossil Plio-Pleistocene European macaques: The case of Macaca majori Azzaroli, 1946 from Sardinia. J Hum Evol 2023; 185:103454. [PMID: 37977021 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2022] [Revised: 10/02/2023] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
The genus Macaca includes medium- to large-bodied monkeys and represents one of the most diverse primate genera, also having a very large geographic range. Nowadays, wild macaque populations are found in Asia and Africa, inhabiting a wide array of habitats. Fossil macaques were also present in Europe from the Late Miocene until the Late Pleistocene. Macaques are considered ecologically flexible monkeys that exhibit highly opportunistic dietary strategies, which may have been critical to their evolutionary success. Nevertheless, available ecological information regarding fossil European species is very sparse, limiting our knowledge of their evolutionary history in this geographic area. To further our understanding of fossil European macaque ecology, we investigated the dietary ecology of Macaca majori, an insular endemic species from Sardinia. In particular, we characterized the dental capabilities and potential dietary adaptations of M. majori through dental topographic and enamel thickness analyses of two M2s from the Early Pleistocene site of Capo Figari (1.8 Ma). We also assessed its diet through dental microwear texture analysis, while the microwear texture of M. majori was also compared with microwear textures from other European fossil macaques from mainland Europe. The dental topographic and enamel thickness analyses suggest that M. majori frequently consumes hard/mechanically challenging and/or abrasive foods. The results of the dental microwear analysis are consistent with this interpretation and further suggest that M. majori probably exhibited more durophagous dietary habits than mainland Plio-Pleistocene macaques. Overall, our results indicate that M. majori probably occupied a different dietary niche compared to its mainland fossil relatives, which suggests that they may have inhabited different paleoenvironments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christos Alexandros Plastiras
- Laboratory of Geology and Palaeontology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54 124 Thessaloniki, Greece; PALEVOPRIM - UMR 7262 CNRS-INEE, Université de Poitiers, 86073 Poitiers Cedex, France.
| | - Ghislain Thiery
- PALEVOPRIM - UMR 7262 CNRS-INEE, Université de Poitiers, 86073 Poitiers Cedex, France
| | - Franck Guy
- PALEVOPRIM - UMR 7262 CNRS-INEE, Université de Poitiers, 86073 Poitiers Cedex, France
| | - David M Alba
- Insitut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Auntònoma de Barcelona, Edifici ICTA-ICP, c/ Columnes s/n, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Takeshi Nishimura
- Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior, Kyoto University, 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan
| | - Dimitris S Kostopoulos
- Laboratory of Geology and Palaeontology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54 124 Thessaloniki, Greece
| | - Gildas Merceron
- PALEVOPRIM - UMR 7262 CNRS-INEE, Université de Poitiers, 86073 Poitiers Cedex, France
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Guatelli-Steinberg D, Schwartz GT, O'Hara MC, Gurian K, Rychel J, Dunham N, Cunneyworth PMK, Donaldson A, McGraw WS. Aspects of molar form and dietary proclivities of African colobines. J Hum Evol 2023; 180:103384. [PMID: 37201412 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103384] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2022] [Revised: 04/04/2023] [Accepted: 04/09/2023] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
This study investigates aspects of molar form in three African colobine species: Colobus polykomos, Colobus angolensis, and Piliocolobus badius. Our samples of C. polykomos and P. badius are from the Taï Forest, Ivory Coast; our sample of C. angolensis is from Diani, Kenya. To the extent that protective layers surrounding seeds are hard, we predicted that molar features related to hard-object feeding would be more pronounced in Colobus than they are Piliocolobus, as seed-eating generally occurs at higher frequencies in species of the former. We further predicted that among the colobines we studied, these features would be most pronounced in Taï Forest C. polykomos, which feeds on Pentaclethra macrophylla seeds encased within hard and tough seed pods. We compared overall enamel thickness, enamel thickness distribution, absolute crown strength, cusp tip geometry, and flare among molar samples. Sample sizes per species and molar type varied per comparison. We predicted differences in all variables except overall enamel thickness, which we expected would be invariant among colobines as a result of selection for thin enamel in these folivorous species. Of the variables we examined, only molar flare differed significantly between Colobus and Piliocolobus. Our findings suggest that molar flare, an ancient feature of cercopithecoid molars, was retained in Colobus but not in Piliocolobus, perhaps as a result of differences in the seed-eating proclivities of the two genera. Contrary to predictions, none of the aspects of molar form we investigated tracked current dietary differences in seed-eating between the two Colobus species. Finally, we explored the possibility that molar flare and absolute crown strength, when analyzed together, might afford greater differentiation among these colobine species. A multivariate t test of molar flare and absolute crown strength differentiated C. polykomos and P. badius, possibly reflecting known niche divergence between these two sympatric Taï Forest species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg
- Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, 174 West 18th Ave, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA; School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NR, UK.
| | - Gary T Schwartz
- Institute of Human Origins & School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA
| | - Mackie C O'Hara
- Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, 174 West 18th Ave, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA; School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NR, UK
| | - Kaita Gurian
- Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, 174 West 18th Ave, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Jess Rychel
- Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, 174 West 18th Ave, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Noah Dunham
- Division of Conservation and Science, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, 4200 Wildlife Way, Cleveland, OH, 44109, USA; Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, 2080 Adelbert Road, Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA
| | | | - Andrea Donaldson
- Colobus Conservation, P.O. Box 5380-80401, Diani, Kenya; Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK
| | - W Scott McGraw
- Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, 174 West 18th Ave, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
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