Assessing complexity in hominid dental evolution

Fractal analysis of great ape and human molars

Bibliographic Data

ID8315463
AuthorsHugo Cano‐Fernández (0000-0003-2599-4155, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona Barcelona Spain, corresponding author), Aida Gómez‐roble (0000-0002-8719-2660, Museum of London), Aida Gómez‐Robles (Department of Anthropology University College London London UK)
Year2021
Volume174
Issue2
Pages352-362
Publication date2021-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ajpa.24178
PMID33242355
OpenAlexW3109755859
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited45

OBJECTIVES: Molar crenulation is defined as the accessory pattern of grooves that appears on the occlusal surface of many mammalian molars. Although frequently used in the characterization of species, this trait is often assessed qualitatively, which poses unavoidable subjective biases. The objective of this study is to quantitatively test the variability in the expression of molar crenulation in primates and its association with molar size and diet. METHODS: The variability in the expression of molar crenulation in hominids (human, chimpanzee, gorilla, and orangutan) was assessed with fractal analysis using photographs of first, second and third upper and lower molars. After this, representative values for 29 primate species were used to evaluate the correlation between molar complexity, molar size, and diet using a phylogenetic generalized least squares regression. RESULTS: Results show that there are statistically significant differences in fractal dimensions across hominid species in all molars, with orangutan molars presenting higher values of occlusal complexity. Our results indicate that there is no significant association between molar complexity and molar size or diet. DISCUSSION: Our results show higher levels of occlusal complexity in orangutans, thus supporting previously published observations. Our analyses, however, do not indicate a clear association between molar complexity and molar size or diet, pointing to other factors as the major drivers of complexity. To our knowledge, our study is the first one to use fractal analysis to measure occlusal complexity in primates. Our results show that this approach is a rapid and cost-effective way to measure molar complexity

Association (psychology) · Biology · Crenulation · Evolutionary biology · Fractal · Fractal analysis · Fractal dimension · Gorilla · Molar · Primate · dental development and anomalies · Dentistry · Ecology · Evolution and Paleontology Studies · Mathematics · Medicine · Orthodontics · Paleontology · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Psychology

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