Relationships Between the Fossil Colobine Mesopithecus pentelicus and Extant Cercopithecoids, Based on Dental Metrics
Date
2004
Authors
Pan, Ruliang
Groves, Colin
Oxnard, C
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley-Liss Inc
Abstract
Maxillary dental measurements from six specimens of Mesopithecus pentelicus, 64 cercopithecines, 59 African colobines, and 64 Asian colobines were analyzed by means of a "nested research design" that was specifically designed to explore the affiliation between fossils and extant cercopithecoids at different systematic levels. The results showed that the variation among taxonomic groups was mainly associated with size; however, in addition, interesting shape differences emerged, molars were shown to be important discriminators, Mesopithecus was confirmed as a colobine (as expected) and found to be closer to Asian species than to African ones, and the odd-nosed colobines were found to share more dental similarities with Mesopithecus than other colobines. The last finding is in contrast to previous studies, in which it was proposed that M. pentelicus is morphologically closely related to the African colobus and the gray langur (Semnopithecus).
Description
Keywords
Keywords: dentition; fossil record; primate; taxonomy; Africa; animal; article; Asia; biometry; classification; Colobinae; comparative study; discriminant analysis; fossil; Greece; histology; odontometry; principal component analysis; tooth; Africa; Animals; Asia; Colobines; Fossil (Mesopithecus pentelicus); Functional adaptation; Metrical dental analysis on cercopithecoids
Citation
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Source
American Journal of Primatology
Type
Journal article