Abstract

DEL RIO, Joaquin et al. Morphological diversity of the mandible of capuchin monkeys: a morphometric analysis. Rev Arg Antrop Biol [online]. 2018, vol.20, n.2, pp.1-11. ISSN 1514-7991.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17139/raab.2018.0020.02.07.

The diversification of platyrrhines on a macroevolutionary scale has been systematically studied in recent years. However, the origin of the phenotypic and taxonomic diversity observed at small phylogenetic scales, e.g., within genera, has been less studied. In this context, the diversity of capuchin monkeys has recently been discussed. Previous works recognized a single genus and mainly four species. In contrast, recent studies, using morphological and molecular data, have proposed splitting the clade into two genera (Cebus and Sapajus) and twelve species. The objective of this work is to explore mandibular morphometric variation of capuchin monkey species to discuss this problem. The results obtained using computed micro-tomographies, 3D geometric morphometric techniques, and comparative phylogenetic methods show that all the species studied overlap along the main axis of shape variation, and that the differentiation among the species recently assigned to the genera Cebus and Sapajus is related to non-allometric shape changes. Many of the characteristics assigned to the recently proposed Sapajus genus, particularly, the robustness of the mandible, are observed in male individuals of species of both genera. These results suggest that the morphological characteristics recently described as useful for differentiating the capuchin genera should be cautiously used as criteria for generating new systematic proposals. Rev Arg Antrop Biol 20(2), 2018. doi:10.17139/raab.2018.0020.02.07

Keywords : Geometric morphometrics; South America; Cebus-Sapajus; Systematics.

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