Evolution of Dental Topography in the Endemic Primate and Rodent Radiations of Africa and South Amer...

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" Evolution of Dental Topography in the Endemic Primate and Rodent Radiations of Africa and South America "
de Vries, Dorien Seiffert, Erik R.

Document Type	:	Latin Dissertation
Language of Document	:	English
Record Number	:	1054266
Doc. No	:	TL53383
Main Entry	:	de Vries, Dorien
Title & Author	:	Evolution of Dental Topography in the Endemic Primate and Rodent Radiations of Africa and South America\ de Vries, DorienSeiffert, Erik R.
College	:	State University of New York at Stony Brook
Date	:	2020
Degree	:	Ph.D.
student score	:	2020
Note	:	388 p.
Abstract	:	Understanding how patterns of primate adaptation relate to ecological opportunity and competition is important for reconstructing primate biodiversity through time. This dissertation examines disparity (i.e. morphological diversity) of molar shape and taxonomic diversity through time in living and extinct primates and rodents of Africa and South America. Disparity and morphotype (i.e. molar shape) were quantified using dental topographic metrics in species ranging in age from the middle Eocene to the middle Miocene These dental topographic metrics were reconstructed through time and analyzed using phylogenetic comparative methods, allowing for the statistical comparison of disparity and morphotype between different clades and landmasses through time, and for the comparison of patterns of disparity to those of taxonomic diversity. This study identified large-scale shared responses to global climatic events over the course of primate and rodent evolution on the southern landmasses. Disparity of both clades dropped considerably after the Eocene-Oligocene Boundary at 34 Ma, followed by a recovery in both clades during the Late Oligocene Warming period. Measures of disparity and evolutionary rates were lower in primates than in rodents in all clade-comparisons. After the arrival of anthropoid primates in Afro-Arabia, anthropoids experienced a period of high taxonomic diversification but low dental disparity. In contrast, strepsirrhine taxonomic diversity decreased but dental disparity increased. This may be due to anthropoids’ competitive superiority over the endemic strepsirrhine clade, which allowed taxonomic diversification without the need to evolve novel tooth shapes. Strepsirrhines on the other hand may have been pushed into marginal ecological niches resulting in the presence of more specialized and extreme dental adaptations. Platyrrhine primates showed half the disparity of African anthropoid primates, even when the later arrival time of platyrrhines was taken into account. Their low disparity may be due to competition with other South American clades. African anthropoids showed the highest evolutionary rate of the studied primate clades. This dissertation provides the foundation for future studies assessing the interaction of primate and rodent evolution with predator and competitor clade dynamics on both continents and has improved our understanding of small mammal diversity on the southern continents.
Descriptor	:	Ecology
	:	Physical anthropology
Added Entry	:	Seiffert, Erik R.
Added Entry	:	State University of New York at Stony Brook