Tooth form and diet in ateline and alouattine primates: reflections on the comparative method

Folivores (Alouatta, Brachyteles) have relatively small lower incisors and relatively well-developed molar shearing crests compared to frugivores (Ateles, Lagothrix). The development of molar shear crests in the fossil alouattines of the genus Stirtonia is indicative of diets nearly as folivorous as in Alouatta. The existence of multiple adaptive solutions to a single selective pressure does not preclude using the comparative method for predictive purposes as long as the goal is to infer behavior from morphology and not the reverse. Similarly, nonadaptive convergence does not invalidate the entire comparative method but only means that not all hypothesized relationships between morphology and behavior will have predictive power. -from Authors

Duke Scholars

Author Richard Frederick Kay Evolutionary Anthropology