title: Dental microwear profilometry of African non-cercopithecoid catarrhines of the Early Miocene.
abstract: The Early Miocene of Kenya has yielded the remains of many important stem catarrhine species that provide a glimpse of the East African primate radiation at a time of major faunal turnover. These taxa have been subject to innumerable studies, yet there is still no consensus on their dietary niches. Here we report results of an analysis of dental microwear textures of non-cercopithecoid catarrhines from the Early Miocene of Kenya. Scanning confocal profilometry of all available molar specimens with undamaged occlusal surfaces revealed 82 individuals with unobscured antemortem microwear, representing Dendropithecus, Micropithecus, Limnopithecus, Proconsul, and Rangwapithecus. Scale-sensitive fractal analysis was used to generate microwear texture attributes for each individual, and the fossil taxa were compared with each other using conservative non-parametric statistical tests. This study revealed no discernible variation in microwear texture among the fossil taxa, which is consistent with results from a previous feature-based microwear study using smaller samples. Our results suggest that, despite their morphological differences, these taxa likely often consumed foods with similar abrasive and fracture properties. However, statistical analyses of microwear texture data indicate differences between the Miocene fossil sample and several extant anthropoid primate genera. This suggests that the African non-cercopithecoid catarrhines included in our study, despite variations in tooth form, had generalist diets that were not yet specialized to the degree of many modern taxa.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, The Graduate Center, CUNY, 365 5th Ave, New York, NY 10016, USA; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West and 79th St., New York, NY 10024, USA. Electronic address: bshearer@gc.cuny.edu.
authors.forename: Brian M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Shearer
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas, Old Main 330, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA.
authors.forename: Peter S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Ungar
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Anthropology Lab, University of Minnesota, 383 HHH Center 301 19th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
authors.forename: Kieran P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: McNulty
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, Lehman College, CUNY 250 Bedford Park Blvd W., New York, NY 10468, USA; Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West and 79th St., New York, NY 10024, USA; Department of Anthropology, The Graduate Center, CUNY, 365 5th Ave, New York, NY 10016, USA; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West and 79th St., New York, NY 10024, USA.
authors.forename: William E H
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Harcourt-Smith
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Rhode Island, 10 Chafee Lot Road, Kingston, RI 02881, USA.
authors.forename: Holly M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Dunsworth
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, High Point University, 833 Montlieu Ave, High Point, NC 27262, USA.
authors.forename: Mark F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Teaford
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005580:Fossils; D010161:Paleodontology; D011323:Primates / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D014070:Tooth / Q000473:pathology*; D057085:Tooth Wear / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: Dendropithecus; Diet; Limnopithecus; Micropithecus; Proconsul; Rangwapithecus