Investigating the dietary niches of fossil Plio-Pleistocene European macaques: The case of Macaca majori Azzaroli, 1946 from Sardinia

IF 3.1 1区 地球科学 Q1 ANTHROPOLOGY Journal of Human Evolution Pub Date : 2023-11-16 DOI:10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103454
Christos Alexandros Plastiras , Ghislain Thiery , Franck Guy , David M. Alba , Takeshi Nishimura , Dimitris S. Kostopoulos , Gildas Merceron
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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.

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研究上新世-更新世欧洲猕猴化石的饮食生态位:以撒丁岛1946年的Macaca majori Azzaroli为例
猕猴属包括中型到大型猕猴,是最多样化的灵长类动物属之一,也有非常大的地理范围。如今,在亚洲和非洲发现了野生猕猴种群,它们生活在各种各样的栖息地。从晚中新世到晚更新世,猕猴化石也出现在欧洲。猕猴被认为是生态灵活的猴子,它们表现出高度机会主义的饮食策略,这可能是它们进化成功的关键。然而,关于化石欧洲物种的可用生态信息非常稀少,限制了我们对其在该地理区域的进化史的了解。为了进一步了解化石欧洲猕猴生态学,我们研究了来自撒丁岛的岛屿特有物种Macaca majori的饮食生态学。特别是,我们通过对Capo Figari (1.8 Ma)早更新世遗址的两个M2s的牙齿地形和牙釉质厚度分析,表征了M. majori的牙齿功能和潜在的饮食适应性。我们还通过牙齿微磨损纹理分析来评估其饮食,并将马氏恒河猴的微磨损纹理与来自欧洲大陆的其他欧洲化石猕猴的微磨损纹理进行了比较。牙齿地形和牙釉质厚度分析表明,M. majori经常消耗坚硬/机械挑战性和/或磨蚀性食物。牙齿微磨损分析的结果与这一解释一致,并进一步表明马氏恒河猴可能比大陆的上新世-更新世猕猴表现出更多的硬食性饮食习惯。总的来说,我们的研究结果表明,与大陆的化石亲戚相比,M. majori可能占据了不同的饮食生态位,这表明它们可能生活在不同的古环境中。
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来源期刊
Journal of Human Evolution
Journal of Human Evolution 生物-进化生物学
CiteScore
6.30
自引率
15.60%
发文量
104
审稿时长
3 months
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.
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