Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84013, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Jun 25;110(26):10507-12. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1222571110. Epub 2013 Jun 3.
Theropithecus was a common large-bodied primate that co-occurred with hominins in many Plio-Pleistocene deposits in East and South Africa. Stable isotope analyses of tooth enamel from T. brumpti (4.0-2.5 Ma) and T. oswaldi (2.0-1.0 Ma) in Kenya show that the earliest Theropithecus at 4 Ma had a diet dominated by C4 resources. Progressively, this genus increased the proportion of C4-derived resources in its diet and by 1.0 Ma, had a diet that was nearly 100% C4-derived. It is likely that this diet was comprised of grasses or sedges; stable isotopes cannot, by themselves, give an indication of the relative importance of leaves, seeds, or underground storage organs to the diet of this primate. Theropithecus throughout the 4- to 1-Ma time range has a diet that is more C4-based than contemporaneous hominins of the genera Australopithecus, Kenyanthropus, and Homo; however, Theropithecus and Paranthropus have similar proportions of C4-based resources in their respective diets.
在东非和南非的许多上新世和更新世沉积物中，原康修尔猿与原始人类共同存在，是一种常见的大型灵长类动物。肯尼亚的 T. brumpti（4.0-2.5 万年前）和 T. oswaldi（2.0-1.0 万年前）的牙齿珐琅质稳定同位素分析表明，最早的原康修尔猿在 400 万年前的饮食以 C4 资源为主。逐渐地，这个属增加了其饮食中 C4 衍生资源的比例，到 100 万年前，其饮食几乎完全来自 C4。这种饮食很可能由草或莎草组成；稳定同位素本身并不能说明叶子、种子或地下贮藏器官对这种灵长类动物饮食的相对重要性。在 400 万至 100 万年前的时间范围内，原康修尔猿的饮食比同时代的南方古猿属、肯尼亚人属和人属的原始人类更依赖 C4；然而，原康修尔猿和傍人属在各自的饮食中有相似比例的 C4 资源。
