Diet drove brain and dental morphological coevolution in strepsirrhine primates.

ABSTRACT: The evolution of the remarkably complex primate brain has been a topic of great interest for decades. Multiple factors have been proposed to explain the comparatively larger primate brain (relative to body mass), with recent studies indicating diet has the greatest explanatory power. Dietary specialisations also correlate with dental adaptations, providing a potential evolutionary link between brain and dental morphological evolution. However, unambiguous evidence of association between brain and dental phenotypes in primates remains elusive. Here we investigate the effect of diet on variation in primate brain and dental morphology and test whether the two anatomical systems coevolved. We focused on the primate suborder Strepsirrhini, a living primate group that occupies a very wide range

SUBMITTER: Lopez-Aguirre C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9170099 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature