Christos Alexandros Plastiras , Ghislain Thiery , Franck Guy , David M. Alba , Takeshi Nishimura , Dimitris S. Kostopoulos , Gildas Merceron
{"title":"Investigating the dietary niches of fossil Plio-Pleistocene European macaques: The case of Macaca majori Azzaroli, 1946 from Sardinia","authors":"Christos Alexandros Plastiras , Ghislain Thiery , Franck Guy , David M. Alba , Takeshi Nishimura , Dimitris S. Kostopoulos , Gildas Merceron","doi":"10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103454","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The genus <em>Macaca</em> includes medium- to large-bodied monkeys and represents one of the most diverse primate genera, also having a very large geographic range. Nowadays, wild macaque populations are found in Asia and Africa, inhabiting a wide array of habitats. Fossil macaques were also present in Europe from the Late Miocene until the Late Pleistocene. Macaques are considered ecologically flexible monkeys that exhibit highly opportunistic dietary strategies, which may have been critical to their evolutionary success. Nevertheless, available ecological information regarding fossil European species is very sparse, limiting our knowledge of their evolutionary history in this geographic area. To further our understanding of fossil European macaque ecology, we investigated the dietary ecology of <em>Macaca majori</em>, an insular endemic species from Sardinia. In particular, we characterized the dental capabilities and potential dietary adaptations of <em>M. majori</em> through dental topographic and enamel thickness analyses of two M<sup>2</sup>s from the Early Pleistocene site of Capo Figari (1.8 Ma). We also assessed its diet through dental microwear texture analysis, while the microwear texture of <em>M. majori</em> was also compared with microwear textures from other European fossil macaques from mainland Europe. The dental topographic and enamel thickness analyses suggest that <em>M. majori</em> frequently consumes hard/mechanically challenging and/or abrasive foods. The results of the dental microwear analysis are consistent with this interpretation and further suggest that <em>M. majori</em> probably exhibited more durophagous dietary habits than mainland Plio-Pleistocene macaques. Overall, our results indicate that <em>M. majori</em> probably occupied a different dietary niche compared to its mainland fossil relatives, which suggests that they may have inhabited different paleoenvironments.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":54805,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Evolution","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.1000,"publicationDate":"2023-11-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Human Evolution","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248423001331","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The genus Macaca includes medium- to large-bodied monkeys and represents one of the most diverse primate genera, also having a very large geographic range. Nowadays, wild macaque populations are found in Asia and Africa, inhabiting a wide array of habitats. Fossil macaques were also present in Europe from the Late Miocene until the Late Pleistocene. Macaques are considered ecologically flexible monkeys that exhibit highly opportunistic dietary strategies, which may have been critical to their evolutionary success. Nevertheless, available ecological information regarding fossil European species is very sparse, limiting our knowledge of their evolutionary history in this geographic area. To further our understanding of fossil European macaque ecology, we investigated the dietary ecology of Macaca majori, an insular endemic species from Sardinia. In particular, we characterized the dental capabilities and potential dietary adaptations of M. majori through dental topographic and enamel thickness analyses of two M2s from the Early Pleistocene site of Capo Figari (1.8 Ma). We also assessed its diet through dental microwear texture analysis, while the microwear texture of M. majori was also compared with microwear textures from other European fossil macaques from mainland Europe. The dental topographic and enamel thickness analyses suggest that M. majori frequently consumes hard/mechanically challenging and/or abrasive foods. The results of the dental microwear analysis are consistent with this interpretation and further suggest that M. majori probably exhibited more durophagous dietary habits than mainland Plio-Pleistocene macaques. Overall, our results indicate that M. majori probably occupied a different dietary niche compared to its mainland fossil relatives, which suggests that they may have inhabited different paleoenvironments.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Human Evolution concentrates on publishing the highest quality papers covering all aspects of human evolution. The central focus is aimed jointly at paleoanthropological work, covering human and primate fossils, and at comparative studies of living species, including both morphological and molecular evidence. These include descriptions of new discoveries, interpretative analyses of new and previously described material, and assessments of the phylogeny and paleobiology of primate species. Submissions should address issues and questions of broad interest in paleoanthropology.