Dental wear among cercopithecid monkeys of the Taï forest, Côte d'Ivoire. Issue 4 (28th February 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Morse, Paul E.; Daegling, David J.; McGraw, W. Scott; Pampush, James D.
• Is Part Of: American journal of physical anthropology. Volume 150:Issue 4(2013)
• Page Start: 655
• Page End: 665
• Publication Date: 2013-02-28
• Subjects: Physical anthropology -- Periodicals; Anthropology -- Periodicals; Anthropologie physique -- Périodiques; 599.9
• DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22242
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0002-9483

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>ABSTRACT</title> <p>Studies of dental macrowear can be useful for understanding masticatory and ingestive behavior, life history, and for inferring dietary information from the skeletal material of extinct and extant primates. Such studies to date have tended to focus on one or two teeth, potentially missing information that can be garnered through examination of wear patterns across the tooth row. Our study measured macrowear in the postcanine teeth of three sympatric cercopithecid species from the Taï Forest, Côte d'Ivoire (<italic>Cercocebus atys</italic>, <italic>Procolobus badius</italic>, and <italic>Colobus polykomos</italic>), whose diets have been well‐described. Inter‐specific analyses suggest that different diets and ingestive behaviors are characterized by different patterns of wear across the molar row, with <italic>Cercocebus atys</italic> emphasizing tooth use near P₄‐M₁, <italic>P. badius</italic> emphasizing a large amount of tooth use near M₂‐M₃, and <italic>Colobus polykomos</italic> exhibiting wear more evenly across the postcanine teeth. Information regarding differential tooth use across the molar row may be more informative than macrowear analysis of isolated teeth for making inferences about primate feeding behavior. Am J Phys Anthropol 150:655–665, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.</p> </abstract>