Primate dental topographic analysis and functional morphology

Ungar, Peter S.; Bunn, Jonathan M.

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511542442.011

Cited by 17 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Dental topographic analysis has been developed with just this in mind [Dennis et al, 2004;King et al, 2005;Teaford & Ungar, 2006;Ulhaas et al, 2004;Ungar, 2004Ungar, , 2006Ungar, , 2007Ungar & Bunn, 2007;Ungar & Williamson, 2000]. The ability to consider worn teeth allows us to examine dental functional morphology in far more specimens and indeed taxa, both living and fossil, than would be possible with conventional SQ analyses.…”

Section: Dental Topographic Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This approach uses tools available in geographic information systems (GIS) to characterize surfaces from 3D point clouds representing tooth crowns. Resulting measurements of surface slope, angularity, and relief have all been shown to separate primates with differing diets [Dennis et al, 2004;King et al, 2005;Merceron et al, 2006;Teaford & Ungar, 2006;Ungar, 2006Ungar, , 2007Ungar & Bunn, 2007;.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Dental topography and diets of four old world monkey species

Bunn

Ungar

2009

American J Primatol

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Dental topographic analysis allows comparisons of variably worn teeth within and between species to infer relationships between dental form and diet in living primates, with implications for reconstructing feeding adaptations of fossil forms. Although analyses to date have been limited mainly to the M(2)s of a few primate taxa, these suggest that dental topographic analysis holds considerable promise. Still, larger samples including a greater range of species and different tooth types are needed to determine the potential of this approach. Here we examine dental topography of molar teeth of Cercocebus torquatus (n=48), Cercopithecus campbelli (n=50), Colobus polykomos (n=50), and Procolobus badius (n=50). This is the first such study of large samples of Old World monkeys, and the first to include analyses of both M(1)s and M(2)s. Average slope, relief, and surface angularity were computed and compared among tooth types, wear stages, and species. Results suggest that (1) data for M(1)s and M(2)s cannot be compared directly; (2) slope and relief decline with wear on M(2)s of all taxa, and M(1)s of the colobines, whereas angularity does not generally change except in the most worn specimens; and (3) folivorous colobines tend to have more sloping surfaces and more relief than do frugivorous cercopithecines, though angularity does not clearly separate taxa by diet.

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Section: Dental Topographic Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Dental topography and diets of four old world monkey species

Bunn

Ungar

2009

American J Primatol

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“…Slope and relief variables, derived from molar teeth, have been shown to correlate with dietary categories for a variety of primates (M'Kirera and Ungar and M'Kirera, 2003;Ungar and Bunn, 2008;Bunn and Ungar, 2009). The slope variable reflects the mean slope, or change in elevation, across an occlusal table .…”

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confidence: 99%

A dental topographic analysis of chimpanzees

Klukkert

Teaford

Ungar

2012

American J Phys Anthropol

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Molar tooth morphology is generally said to reflect a compromise between phylogenetic and functional influences. Chimpanzee subspecies have been reported to exhibit differences in molar dimensions and nonmetric traits, but these have not been related to differences in their diets. And in fact, observations to date of the diets of chimpanzees have not revealed consistent differences among subspecies. This study uses dental topographic analyses shown to reflect diet-related differences in occlusal morphology among primate species, to assess within-species variation among chimpanzee subspecies. High-resolution casts from museum collections were examined by laser scanning, and resulting data were analyzed using GIS algorithms and a two-factor ANOVA model. Although differences were noted between wear stages within subspecies in surface slope, relief, and angularity, none were found to distinguish the subspecies from one another in these attributes. This might reflect limitations in the ability of this method to detect diet-related differences, but is also consistent with a lack of differences in functionally relevant aspects of occlusal morphology among chimpanzee subspecies.

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“…Dental topographic analysis has been used to determine dietary categories in some extant primate genera such as Alouatta, Avahi, Cercocebus, Gorilla, Microcebus, and Procolobus (Boyer 2008;Cooke 2011;Dennis et al 2004;Skinner et al 2010;Ungar and Bunn 2008;Ungar and Williamson 2000) and some fossil primates (Cooke 2011;Seiffert et al 2010). However, this kind of analysis has not yet been widely applied to fossil hominins (cf.…”

Section: Dental Topographic Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dense pitting and intermediate scratching (Teaford and Walker 1984) Intermediate occlusal relief (Ungar and Bunn 2008); high orientation patch complexity (Skinner et al…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstructing the Diet of an Extinct Hominin Taxon: The Role of Extant Primate Models

Wood

Schroer

2012

Int J Primatol

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Modern humans represent the only surviving species of an otherwise extinct clade of primates, the hominins. As the closest living relatives to extinct hominins, extant primates are an important source of comparative information for the reconstruction of the diets of extinct hominins. Methods such as comparative and functional morphology, finite element analysis, dental wear, dental topographic analysis, and stable isotope biogeochemistry must be validated and tested within extant populations before they can be applied to extinct taxa. Here we review how these methods have and might be used to reconstruct the diet of a particular extinct hominin, Paranthropus boisei, which has no extant analogue for its highly derived masticatory morphology. Our review emphasizes the potential and limitations of using extant primates as models for the reconstruction of extinct hominin diets. We encourage paleoanthropologists and those who study the feeding behaviors of extant primates to work together to investigate and validate methods for interpreting the diets of all extinct primates, including hominins.

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Primate dental topographic analysis and functional morphology

Cited by 17 publications

References 24 publications

Dental topography and diets of four old world monkey species

Dental topography and diets of four old world monkey species

A dental topographic analysis of chimpanzees

Reconstructing the Diet of an Extinct Hominin Taxon: The Role of Extant Primate Models

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