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Dental topography of platyrrhines and prosimians: convergence and contrasts.

Publication ,  Conference
Winchester, JM; Boyer, DM; St Clair, EM; Gosselin-Ildari, AD; Cooke, SB; Ledogar, JA
Published in: American journal of physical anthropology
January 2014

Dental topographic analysis is the quantitative assessment of shape of three-dimensional models of tooth crowns and component features. Molar topographic curvature, relief, and complexity correlate with aspects of feeding behavior in certain living primates, and have been employed to investigate dietary ecology in extant and extinct primate species. This study investigates whether dental topography correlates with diet among a diverse sample of living platyrrhines, and compares platyrrhine topography with that of prosimians. We sampled 111 lower second molars of 11 platyrrhine genera and 121 of 20 prosimian genera. For each tooth we calculated Dirichlet normal energy (DNE), relief index (RFI), and orientation patch count (OPCR), quantifying surface curvature, relief, and complexity respectively. Shearing ratios and quotients were also measured. Statistical analyses partitioned effects of diet and taxon on topography in platyrrhines alone and relative to prosimians. Discriminant function analyses assessed predictive diet models. Results indicate that platyrrhine dental topography correlates to dietary preference, and platyrrhine-only predictive models yield high rates of accuracy. The same is true for prosimians. Topographic variance is broadly similar among platyrrhines and prosimians. One exception is that platyrrhines display higher average relief and lower relief variance, possibly related to lower relative molar size and functional links between relief and tooth longevity distinct from curvature or complexity. Explicitly incorporating phylogenetic distance matrices into statistical analyses of the combined platyrrhine-prosimian sample results in loss of significance of dietary effects for OPCR and SQ, while greatly increasing dietary significance of RFI.

Duke Scholars

Published In

American journal of physical anthropology

DOI

EISSN

1096-8644

ISSN

0002-9483

Publication Date

January 2014

Volume

153

Issue

1

Start / End Page

29 / 44

Related Subject Headings

  • Strepsirhini
  • Phylogeny
  • Odontometry
  • Molar
  • Models, Statistical
  • Ecology
  • Diet
  • Cebidae
  • Anthropology, Physical
  • Anthropology
 

Citation

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ICMJE
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Winchester, J. M., Boyer, D. M., St Clair, E. M., Gosselin-Ildari, A. D., Cooke, S. B., & Ledogar, J. A. (2014). Dental topography of platyrrhines and prosimians: convergence and contrasts. In American journal of physical anthropology (Vol. 153, pp. 29–44). https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22398
Winchester, Julia M., Doug M. Boyer, Elizabeth M. St Clair, Ashley D. Gosselin-Ildari, Siobhán B. Cooke, and Justin A. Ledogar. “Dental topography of platyrrhines and prosimians: convergence and contrasts.” In American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 153:29–44, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22398.
Winchester JM, Boyer DM, St Clair EM, Gosselin-Ildari AD, Cooke SB, Ledogar JA. Dental topography of platyrrhines and prosimians: convergence and contrasts. In: American journal of physical anthropology. 2014. p. 29–44.
Winchester, Julia M., et al. “Dental topography of platyrrhines and prosimians: convergence and contrasts.American Journal of Physical Anthropology, vol. 153, no. 1, 2014, pp. 29–44. Epmc, doi:10.1002/ajpa.22398.
Winchester JM, Boyer DM, St Clair EM, Gosselin-Ildari AD, Cooke SB, Ledogar JA. Dental topography of platyrrhines and prosimians: convergence and contrasts. American journal of physical anthropology. 2014. p. 29–44.
Journal cover image

Published In

American journal of physical anthropology

DOI

EISSN

1096-8644

ISSN

0002-9483

Publication Date

January 2014

Volume

153

Issue

1

Start / End Page

29 / 44

Related Subject Headings

  • Strepsirhini
  • Phylogeny
  • Odontometry
  • Molar
  • Models, Statistical
  • Ecology
  • Diet
  • Cebidae
  • Anthropology, Physical
  • Anthropology