There is a weak relationship between 3D mandibular shape and diet in extant primates

This is a study that uses 3D shape analyses to investigate if there is a relationship between mandible shape in primates and diet. Biological anthropologists have long aimed to link jaw shape with diet in living primates to better understand the diets of extinct species, including fossil hominins. This could be important for identifying diet and behavior in the fossil record and understanding human evolution. To date, studies on this topic produced mixed results, likely because they relied on 2D shape data. In this study, we tested whether using 3D shape data would give clearer insights. We used a sample of more than 200 primate specimens, representing individuals from 27 species and five families.

Our results indicate that there is a weak relationship between 3D mandibular shape and diet in extant primates. Other factors have a larger influence on mandible shape than diet in primates, thus anthropologists should try other avenues of research to help understand diet in the past. The 3D jaw shape analysis is unlikely to reveal more about extinct primate diets so future research should focus on other approaches.

Authors: Kimberly Plomp (School of Archaeology, UP Diliman | Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University), Joseph Owen (Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University), Keith Dobney (Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University) and Mark Collard (Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University)

Read the full paper: https://europepmc.org/article/med/38445747

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