Combining fossil enamel stable isotopes and dental microwear texture analysis to assess dietary niche-partitioning among primates (Cercopithecidae and Hominidae) from the Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2021

Combining fossil enamel stable isotopes and dental microwear texture analysis to assess dietary niche-partitioning among primates (Cercopithecidae and Hominidae) from the Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia

Résumé

The fossil record from the Shungura Formation in the Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia, includes several species of primates. Diet is an important aspect to assess niche partitioning. Here, we combine stable isotope analysis and dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) of hominid and cercopithecid molars to study dietary partitioning. We focus on the period from ~2.3 to 2.0 Ma because of the high taxonomic diversity. Cercopithecids are represented by Theropithecus, Papio, and the colobines Paracolobusand Rhinocolobus, and hominids by Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and Homo. We developed a DMTA-based dietary morphospace using PCA of 20 textural characteristics on a dataset of four extant primate species (n=104) with different diets. In the DMTA morphospace, fossil Theropithecus (n=44) falls near its extant congener, the gelada, whereas fossil Papio (n=32) lies closer to modern vervets than their extant counterparts. Smaller sample sizes of the colobines (n=9) show the extinct Rhinocolobus had a diet most similar to the arboreal Colobus guereza whereas the terrestrial Paracolobus had a highly variable diet, including hard objects. For the hominids, DMTA data show no evidence of durophagy. The diet of Paranthropus (n=10) falls closest to that of Theropithecus. Smaller data sets for Homo (n=4) and Australopithecus (n=2) suggest variable diets that fall farther outside of the extant primate morphospace compared toParanthropus. Carbon isotope data show that Paranthropus (n=18) and Theropithecus (n=19) both had C4- dominated diets, thus overlapping in both isotopic and DMTA space. Papio (n=11) shows a high range of 13C values, mirroring the diversity in the DMTA PC1. The diet of Homo (n=10) spans C3- to nearly C4-dominated values and overlaps considerably with Paranthropus. Australopithecus (n=4) has a wide 13C range; colobines (n=9) have C3 diets, but based on DMTA results, sourced different foods.

Domaines

Paléontologie
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Dates et versions

hal-03037539 , version 1 (03-10-2023)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-03037539 , version 1

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Gildas Merceron, Kevin Uno, Morgan Brown, F. Guy, Leslea Hlusko, et al.. Combining fossil enamel stable isotopes and dental microwear texture analysis to assess dietary niche-partitioning among primates (Cercopithecidae and Hominidae) from the Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia. 27e édition de la Réunion des Sciences de la Terre, SGF; CNRS; Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon ou l’étude de la Terre, des planètes et de l’environnement, Nov 2021, Lyon, France. ⟨hal-03037539⟩
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