Abstract
More than half a century ago, Percy Butler touted the importance of analyzing teeth to understand their function in an evolutionary context. There have been many advances in the study of dental functional morphology since that time. Here we review the various approaches to characterizing and comparing occlusal form that have been developed, especially dental topographic analysis. We also report on a new study of dental topography of platyrrhine primates (n = 341 individuals representing 16 species) with known differences in both dietary preferences and other food items eaten. Results indicate frugivores, gummivores, folivores, and seed eaters each have a unique combination of slope, relief, angularity, sharpness, and occlusal orientation patch size and count values. Likewise, among frugivores, those that supplement their diets with hard objects, insects, leaves, and seeds, also each have a distinctive suite of topographic features. We conclude that both primary and secondary diet choices select for occlusal form, and that functional morphology more reflects the types of foods and mechanical challenges they pose rather than the frequencies in which they are eaten.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-12 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Historical Biology |
| DOIs | |
| State | Accepted/In press - Nov 16 2016 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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Keywords
- food
- New World monkeys
- teeth
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
Cite this
Dental topography and diets of platyrrhine primates. / Ungar, Peter S.; Healy, Carrie; Karme, Aleksis; Teaford, Mark; Fortelius, Mikael.
In: Historical Biology, 16.11.2016, p. 1-12.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Dental topography and diets of platyrrhine primates
AU - Ungar, Peter S.
AU - Healy, Carrie
AU - Karme, Aleksis
AU - Teaford, Mark
AU - Fortelius, Mikael
PY - 2016/11/16
Y1 - 2016/11/16
N2 - More than half a century ago, Percy Butler touted the importance of analyzing teeth to understand their function in an evolutionary context. There have been many advances in the study of dental functional morphology since that time. Here we review the various approaches to characterizing and comparing occlusal form that have been developed, especially dental topographic analysis. We also report on a new study of dental topography of platyrrhine primates (n = 341 individuals representing 16 species) with known differences in both dietary preferences and other food items eaten. Results indicate frugivores, gummivores, folivores, and seed eaters each have a unique combination of slope, relief, angularity, sharpness, and occlusal orientation patch size and count values. Likewise, among frugivores, those that supplement their diets with hard objects, insects, leaves, and seeds, also each have a distinctive suite of topographic features. We conclude that both primary and secondary diet choices select for occlusal form, and that functional morphology more reflects the types of foods and mechanical challenges they pose rather than the frequencies in which they are eaten.
AB - More than half a century ago, Percy Butler touted the importance of analyzing teeth to understand their function in an evolutionary context. There have been many advances in the study of dental functional morphology since that time. Here we review the various approaches to characterizing and comparing occlusal form that have been developed, especially dental topographic analysis. We also report on a new study of dental topography of platyrrhine primates (n = 341 individuals representing 16 species) with known differences in both dietary preferences and other food items eaten. Results indicate frugivores, gummivores, folivores, and seed eaters each have a unique combination of slope, relief, angularity, sharpness, and occlusal orientation patch size and count values. Likewise, among frugivores, those that supplement their diets with hard objects, insects, leaves, and seeds, also each have a distinctive suite of topographic features. We conclude that both primary and secondary diet choices select for occlusal form, and that functional morphology more reflects the types of foods and mechanical challenges they pose rather than the frequencies in which they are eaten.
KW - food
KW - New World monkeys
KW - teeth
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84995452394&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84995452394&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/08912963.2016.1255737
DO - 10.1080/08912963.2016.1255737
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84995452394
SP - 1
EP - 12
JO - Historical Biology
JF - Historical Biology
SN - 0891-2963
ER -