Multiproxy approach to reconstruct fossil primate feeding behavior: Case study for macaque from the Plio-Pleistocene site Guefaït-4.2 (eastern Morocco)

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

Ecology and Evolution

Juan José Ibáñez¹  Jan van der Made²  Laura M. Martínez³  Hicham Mhamdi⁴  Mohamed Souhir⁴  Hamid Haddoumi⁴  Hassan Aouraghe⁴  Al Mahdi Aissa⁴  Robert Sala-Ramos⁵  Iván Ramírez-Pedraza⁵  Florent Rivals⁶  Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo⁷  M. Gema Chacón⁸  Carlos Tornero⁹  Aïcha Oujaa^1,10  Ferran Estebaranz-Sánchez^1,11 

[1] Archaeology of Social Dynamics (ASD), Institución Milá y Fontanals (IMF), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Barcelona, Spain;Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Departamento de Paleobiología, Madrid, Spain;Departament de Biologia Evolutiva, Ecologia i Ciències Ambientals, Secció de Zoologia i Antropologia Biològica, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain;Institut d’Arqueologia de la Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain;Faculté des Sciences, Département de Géologie, Université Mohamed Premier, Oujda, Morocco;Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Tarragona, Spain;Departament d’Història i Història de l’Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Tarragona, Spain;Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Tarragona, Spain;Departament d’Història i Història de l’Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Tarragona, Spain;Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain;Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Tarragona, Spain;Departament d’Història i Història de l’Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Tarragona, Spain;Instituto de Evolución en África (IDEA, Madrid), Madrid, Spain;Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Tarragona, Spain;Departament d’Història i Història de l’Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Tarragona, Spain;UMR 7194 - Histoire Naturelle de l’Homme Préhistorique (CNRS/MNHN/UPVD), Paris, France;Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Tarragona, Spain;Department of Prehistory, Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Spain;Institut National des Sciences de l’Archéologie et du Patrimoine (INSAP), Rabat, Morocco;Institut d’Arqueologia de la Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain;Archaeology of Social Dynamics (ASD), Institución Milá y Fontanals (IMF), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Barcelona, Spain;

关键词: habitat;    paleodiet;    Africa;    buccal microtexture;    occlusal microwear;    stable isotopes;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fevo.2023.1011208

 received in 2022-08-03, accepted in 2023-01-25,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The genus Macaca belongs to Cercopithecidae (Old World monkeys), Cercopithecinae, Papionini. The presence of Macaca in North Africa is well known from the Late Miocene to the Late Pleistocene. However, the diet of fossil Macaca has been poorly described in the literature. In this study, we investigated the feeding habits of Macaca cf. sylvanus (n = 4) from the Plio-Pleistocene site Guefaït-4.2 in eastern Morocco through multiproxy analysis combining analyses of stable carbon and oxygen isotopes from tooth enamel, buccal microtexture, and low-magnification occlusal dental microwear. For both microwear analyses, we compared the macaques with a new reference collection of extant members of Cercopithecoidea. Our occlusal microwear results show for the fossil macaque a pattern similar to the extant Cercocebus atys and Lophocebus albigena, African forest-dwelling species that are characterized by a durophagous diet based mainly on hard fruit and seed intake. Buccal microtexture results also suggest the consumption of some grasses and the exploitation of more open habitats, similar to that observed in Theropithecus gelada. The δ13C of M. cf. sylvanus indicates a C3 based-diet without the presence of C4 plants typical of the savanna grassland in eastern Africa during this period. The high δ18O values of M. cf. sylvanus, compared with the contemporary ungulates recovered from Guefaït-4.2, could be associated with the consumption of a different resource by the primate such as leaves or fresh fruits from the upper part of trees. The complementarity of these methods allows for a dietary reconstruction covering a large part of the individual’s life.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Ramírez-Pedraza, Martínez, Aouraghe, Rivals, Tornero, Haddoumi, Estebaranz-Sánchez, Rodríguez-Hidalgo, van der Made, Oujaa, Ibáñez, Mhamdi, Souhir, Aissa, Chacón and Sala-Ramos.