Dental macrowear in catarrhine primates: Variability across species

Galbany, Jordi; Twahirwa, Jean Claude; Baiges-Sotos, Laura; Kane, Erin E.; Tuyisingize, Deogratias; Kaleme, Prince; Rwetsiba, Aggrey; Bitariho, Robert; Cranfield, Michael R.; Bromage, Timothy; Mudakikwa, Antoine; Stoinski, Tara S.; Robbins, Martha M.; McFarlin, Shannon C.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-815599-8.00002-2

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Moreover, Teaford and Oyen (1989b) fed vervets diets that differed in hardness and found that the hard‐object diet produced more rapid tooth wear compared to the softer diet. Whereas we acknowledge that the abrasiveness of a given diet (i.e., the degree to which it causes wear) is the product of several factors such as the concentration of phytoliths, and the presence of grit or quartz in the soil, hard‐object feeding seems to be a consistent vector for higher levels of wear in both observational and experimental work (Fleagle & McGraw, 1999; Galbany et al, 2014, 2020; Schmidt, 2010; Swan, 2016; Teaford et al, 2017; Teaford & Oyen, 1989a, 1989b).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Previous observational and experimental work has shown that hardobject feeders are prone to higher levels of wear (Fleagle & McGraw, 1999;Galbany et al, 2014Galbany et al, , 2020Schmidt, 2010;Swan, 2016;Teaford et al, 2017;Teaford & Oyen, 1989a, 1989b.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…All three of the high‐wear taxa in our analysis have been previously described as hard‐object feeders (see Table 1 and references therein). Previous observational and experimental work has shown that hard‐object feeders are prone to higher levels of wear (Fleagle & McGraw, 1999; Galbany et al, 2014, 2020; Schmidt, 2010; Swan, 2016; Teaford et al, 2017; Teaford & Oyen, 1989a, 1989b). For example, taxa that eat hard diets such as mandrills (Fleagle & McGraw, 1999; Galbany et al, 2014) and mangabeys (Fleagle & McGraw, 1999; Swan, 2016) are known to experience higher levels of wear compared to closely related, soft‐object feeding taxa.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effect of high wear diets on the relative pulp volume of the lower molars

Selig

Kupczik

Silcox

2021

American J Phys Anthropol

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Objectives: One role of dental pulp is in the upkeep and maintenance of dentine. Under wear, odontoblasts in the pulp deposit tertiary dentine to ensure the sensitive internal dental tissues are not exposed and vulnerable to infection. It follows that there may be an adaptive advantage for increasing molar pulp volume in anthropoid primate taxa that are prone to high levels of wear. The relative volume of dental pulp is therefore predicted to covary with dietary abrasiveness (in the sense of including foods that cause high degrees of wear). Materials and Methods: We examined relatively unworn lower second molars in pairs of species of extant hominoids, cebids, and pitheciids that vary in the abrasiveness of their diet (n = 36). Using micro-CT scans, we measured the percent of tooth that is pulp (PTP) as the ratio of pulp volume to that of the total volume of the tooth. Results: We found that in each pair of species, the taxa that consume a more abrasive diet had a significantly higher PTP than the closely related taxa that consume a softer diet. Conclusions: Our results point to an adaptive mechanism in the molars of taxa that consume abrasive diets and are thus subject to higher levels of wear. Our results provide additional understanding of the relationship between dental pulp and diet and may offer insight into the diet of extinct taxa such as Paranthropus boisei or into the adaptive context of the taurodont molars of Neanderthals.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effect of high wear diets on the relative pulp volume of the lower molars

Selig

Kupczik

Silcox

2021

American J Phys Anthropol

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“…Both biotic (food) and abiotic (dust) factors lead to dental tissue loss during mastication, which manifests itself macroscopically by generating complementary wear facets on antagonistic occlusal tooth surfaces and microscopically by forming pits/dales and scratches/furrows on these wear facets [e.g. 13,[17][18][19][20]. Therefore, tooth wear analysis has been widely used as a tool for reconstructing diets and environmental changes in living and fossil primates and other mammals, often where primary ecological or environmental data were incomplete or lacking [e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dental wear patterns reveal dietary ecology and season of death in a historical chimpanzee population

et al. 2021

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Dental wear analyses have been widely used to interpret the dietary ecology in primates. However, it remains unclear to what extent a combination of wear analyses acting at distinct temporal scales can be beneficial in interpreting the tooth use of primates with a high variation in their intraspecific dietary ecology. Here, we combine macroscopic tooth wear (occlusal fingerprint analysis, long-term signals) with microscopic 3D surface textures (short-term signals) exploring the tooth use of a historical western chimpanzee population from northeastern Liberia with no detailed dietary records. We compare our results to previously published tooth wear and feeding data of the extant and continually monitored chimpanzees of Taї National Park in Ivory Coast. Macroscopic tooth wear results from molar wear facets of the Liberian population indicate only slightly less wear when compared to the Taї population. This suggests similar long-term feeding behavior between both populations. In contrast, 3D surface texture results show that Liberian chimpanzees have many and small microscopic wear facet features that group them with those Taї chimpanzees that knowingly died during dry periods. This coincides with historical accounts, which indicate that local tribes poached and butchered the Liberian specimens during dust-rich dry periods. In addition, Liberian females and males differ somewhat in their 3D surface textures, with females having more microscopic peaks, smaller hill and dale areas and slightly rougher wear facet surfaces than males. This suggests a higher consumption of insects in Liberian females compared to males, based on similar 3D surface texture patterns previously reported for Taї chimpanzees. Our study opens new options for uncovering details of feeding behaviors of chimpanzees and other living and fossil primates, with macroscopic tooth wear tracing the long-term dietary and environmental history of a single population and microscopic tooth wear addressing short-term changes (e.g. seasonality).

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Dental sculpting and compensatory shearing crests demonstrated in a WEAR series of Presbytis rubicunda (Cercopithecoidea, Colobidae) with dental topography analysis

Pampush,

Morse,

Kay

2024

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

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ObjectivesMaintaining effective and efficient occlusal morphology presents adaptive challenges for mammals, particularly because mastication produces interactions with foods and other materials that alters the geometry of occlusal surfaces through macrowear and/or catastrophic failure (i.e. “chipping”). Altered occlusal morphologies are often less effective for masticating materials of given diet—but not always—some species exhibit dental sculpting, meaning their dentitions are set up to harness macrowear to hone their occlusal surfaces into more effective morphologies (i.e. secondary morphologies). Here we show that dental sculpting is present in the folivorous Presbytis rubicunda of Borneo.MethodsThirty‐one undamaged lower second molars of P. rubicunda exhibiting various stages of macroscopic wear were micro‐CT scanned and processed into digital surfaces. The surfaces were measured for convex Dirichlet normal energy (vDNE, a measure of surface sharpness), and degree of surface wear. Regression analyses compared surface sharpness with several measures of wear to test for the presence and magnitude of dental sculpting.ResultsPositive correlations between the wear proxies and vDNE reveal that P. rubicunda wear in such a way as to become sharper, and therefore more effective chewing surfaces by exposing enamel‐dentine junctions on their occlusal surfaces and then honing these junctions into sharpened edges. Compared to another primate folivore in which increasing surface sharpness with macrowear has been demonstrated (i.e., Alouatta palliata), the worn surfaces are similarly sharp, but the dental sculpting process appears to be different.DiscussionThe results presented here suggest that not only do some primates exhibit dental sculpting and the attendant secondary morphology, but that there appear to be multiple different morphological configurations that can achieve this result. P. rubicunda has thicker enamel and a more stereotyped wear pattern than A. palliata, although both show positive correlations of occlusal surface sharpness (vDNE) with various wear proxies. These findings shed light on the varied approaches for the maintenance of effective and efficient occlusal surfaces in primates.

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Dental macrowear in catarrhine primates: Variability across species

Cited by 3 publications

References 79 publications

The effect of high wear diets on the relative pulp volume of the lower molars

The effect of high wear diets on the relative pulp volume of the lower molars

Dental wear patterns reveal dietary ecology and season of death in a historical chimpanzee population

Dental sculpting and compensatory shearing crests demonstrated in a WEAR series of Presbytis rubicunda (Cercopithecoidea, Colobidae) with dental topography analysis

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