Digestive Efficiencies of Wild Howler Monkeys

Milton, Katharine; Soest, P.J. Van; Robertson, James B.

doi:10.1086/physzool.53.4.30157878

Cited by 90 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Furthermore, threshold variation covaried partially with changes in mean body size: when mean male body size was relatively small, the threshold body size tended to shift to a smaller body size; when mean male body size was large, the threshold body size tended to shift to a larger body size. Onthophagus acuminatus in Barro Colorado Island feeds on howler monkey Alouatta palliata dung, which is likely to vary in its nutritional value depending on monkey diet, which changes with season (Nagy & Milton, 1979;Milton et al, 1980;Milton, 1982Milton, , 1991. Emlen was able to induce similar variation in switchpoint locations and body sizes in the laboratory by varying larval feeding conditions using a mixture of howler monkey dung and cow manure to generate poor quality food.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Allometric plasticity in a polyphenic beetle

Moczek

2002

Ecological Entomology

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Abstract. 1. Environmental conditions, such as variation in nutrition, commonly contribute to morphological variation among individuals by affecting body size and the expression of certain morphological traits; however the scaling relationship between a morphological trait and body size over a range of body sizes is generally assumed not to change in response to environmental fluctuation (allometric plasticity), but instead to be constant and diagnostic for a particular trait and species or population. The work reported here examined diet-induced allometric plasticity in the polyphenic beetle Onthophagus taurus Schreber (1759) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae).2. Male O. taurus vary in body size depending on larval nutrition. Only males above a critical body size threshold express fully developed horns; males smaller than this threshold develop only rudimentary horns or no horns at all.3. Field populations that naturally utilise two different resources for feeding larvae (horse dung vs. cow manure) exhibited significant differences in the average scaling relationship between body size and male horn length over the same range of body sizes. Males collected from cow manure populations expressed consistently longer horns for a given body size than males collected from horse dung populations.4. Males reared in the laboratory on horse dung or cow manure also exhibited significant differences in the average scaling relationship between body size and horn length. Differences between laboratory populations reared on horse dung or cow manure were of the same kind and magnitude as differences between field populations that utilise these different resources naturally.5. These findings suggest that between-population differences in scaling relationships between horn length and body size can be the product of differences in the quality of resources available to developing larvae. Results are discussed in the context of onthophagine mating systems and recent insights in the developmental and endocrine control of horn polyphenisms.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Allometric plasticity in a polyphenic beetle

Moczek

2002

Ecological Entomology

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“…In this case, folivory may be an evolutionary 'dead-end' for colobines owing to foliage being a much less nutritious food than other vegetative items [85]. Primates with low-quality diets offset energetic deficiencies with trade-offs such as longer rest periods [86] and larger body size [87]. I propose that highly folivorous species, which have low-quality diets and thus tend to be larger, are Table 2.…”

Section: (C) Folivory Depresses Speciation In Asian Colobinesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of ecological opportunity in shaping disparate diversification trajectories in a bicontinental primate radiation

Tran

2014

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Exceptional species and phenotypic diversity commonly are attributed to ecological opportunity (EO). The conventional EO model predicts that rates of lineage diversification and phenotypic evolution are elevated early in a radiation only to decline later in response to niche availability. Foregut fermentation is hypothesized to be a key innovation that allowed colobine monkeys (subfamily Colobinae), the only primates with this trait, to successfully colonize folivore adaptive zones unavailable to other herbivorous species. Therefore, diversification rates also are expected to be strongly linked with the evolution of traits related to folivory in these monkeys. Using dated molecular phylogenies and a dataset of feeding morphology, I test predictions of the EO model to evaluate the role of EO conferred by foregut fermentation in shaping the African and Asian colobine radiations. Findings from diversification methods coupled with colobine biogeographic history provide compelling evidence that decreasing availability of new adaptive zones during colonization of Asia together with constraints presented by dietary specialization underlie temporal changes in diversification in the Asian but not African clade. Additionally, departures from the EO model likely reflect iterative diversification events in Asia.

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“…Highly folivorous species of 3 groups of primates have been reported to eat soil from termite mounds: Old World colobines, Malagasy indriids and New World howler monkeys. As in termites, these 3 groups host bacteria in their digestive tract that are able to process indigestible cellulose [Fleagle, 1999;Milton et al, 1980; Noirot and Noirot-Timothée, 1969]. Termites might enrich their nest with symbiotic bacteria, by using saliva to cement nest soil and when they exchange nutrients with each other by stomodeal/proctodeal contact [La Fage and Nutting, 1978].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%