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…

Chemical composition of modern and fossil Hippopotamid teeth and implications for paleoenvironmental reconstructions and enamel formation – Part 1: Major and minor element variation

Bioapatite in mammalian teeth is readily preserved in continental sediments and represents a very important archive for reconstructions of environment and climate evolution. This project provides a comprehensive data base of major, minor and trace element and isotope tracers for tooth apatite using a variety of microanalytical techniques. The aim is to identify specific sedimentary environments and to improve our understanding on the interaction between internal metabolic processes during tooth formation and external nutritional control and secondary alteration effects. Here, we use the electron microprobe to determine the major and minor element contents of fossil and modern molar enamel, …

The Malawi Rift and vertebrate paleobiogeography of the African Rift Valley

Oldest Homo and Pliocene biogeography of the Malawi Rift

The Malawi Rift and Pliocene palaeofaunas, which include a hominid mandible attributed to Homo rudolfensis, provide a biogeographical link between the better known Plio-Pleistocene faunal records of East and Southern Africa. The Malawi Rift is in a latitudinal position suitable for recording any hominid and faunal dispersion towards the Equator that was brought on by increased aridity of the Late Pliocene African landscape. The evidence suggests that Pliocene hominids originated in the eastern African tropical domain and dispersed to southern Africa only during more favourable ecological circumstances.