A new 3-d approach to determine functional morphology of cercopithecoid molars.

Summary Functional relationships between diet and tooth morphology form an integral part of primatological and paleontological research. Previously, mostly two-dimensional parameters have been used to compare and interpret the complex crown morphology of cercopithecine and colobine molars. However, as teeth are three-dimensional objects, any dimensional reduction in describing their morphology must result in loss of information. In the current study we use a high resolution optical topometric system to record crown morphology in different wear stages in order to extract three-dimensional (3-d) parameters from virtual 3-d models. Structural parameters such as relief index, occlusal surface a…