Nova Delgado Mónica, Gamarra Beatriz, Nadal Jordi, Mercadal Oriol, Olesti Oriol, Guàrdia Jordi, Pérez-Pérez Alejandro, Galbany Jordi
Folia Primatol (Basel). 2014;85(6):361-378. doi: 10.1159/000371633. Epub 2015 Feb 19.
Morphometric variation of biological structures has been widely used to determine taxonomic affinities among taxa, and teeth are especially informative for both deep phylogenetic relationships and specific ecological signals. We report 2-dimensional geometric morphometrics (GM) analyses of occlusal crown surfaces of lower molars (M1, n = 141; M2, n = 158) of cercopithecoid primate species. A 12-landmark configuration, including cusp tips and 8 points of the molar crown contour, were used to evaluate patterns of variation in lower molar shape among cercopithecoid primates and to predict the taxonomic attribution of 2 archaeological macaques from Roman time periods. The results showed that the lower molar shape of cercopithecoid primates reflects taxonomic affinities, mostly at a subfamily level and close to a tribe level. Thus, the cusp positions and crown contour were important elements of the pattern related to interspecific variation. Additionally, the archaeological specimens, attributed to Macaca sylvanus based on osteological information, were classified using the GM molar shape variability of the cercopithecoid primates studied. The results suggest that their molar shape resembled both M. sylvanus and M. nemestrina, and species attribution varied depending on the comparative sample used.
生物结构的形态测量变异已被广泛用于确定分类单元之间的分类学亲缘关系，而牙齿对于深层系统发育关系和特定生态信号尤其具有信息价值。我们报告了对猕猴科灵长类物种下臼齿（M1，n = 141；M2，n = 158）咬合面冠部的二维几何形态测量（GM）分析。采用一种包含尖点和臼齿冠轮廓8个点的12地标配置，来评估猕猴科灵长类动物下臼齿形状的变异模式，并预测来自罗马时期的2个考古猕猴的分类归属。结果表明，猕猴科灵长类动物的下臼齿形状反映了分类学亲缘关系，主要在亚科水平且接近族水平。因此，尖点位置和冠轮廓是与种间变异相关模式的重要元素。此外，根据骨骼学信息归因于地中海猕猴的考古标本，利用所研究的猕猴科灵长类动物的GM臼齿形状变异性进行了分类。结果表明，它们的臼齿形状与地中海猕猴和豚尾猕猴都相似，并且物种归属因所使用的比较样本而异。
