Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 110, Issue 26, Pages 10507-10512Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1222571110
Keywords
C-3; East Africa; Koobi Fora; Nachukui; baboon
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Funding
- National Science Foundation [BCS-0621542, IOB-0322613, IOB-0322781, BCS-0323553, BCS-0323596]
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Theropithecus was a common large-bodied primate that co-occurred with hominins in many Plio-Pleistocene deposits in East and South Africa. Stable isotope analyses of tooth enamel from T. brumpti (4.0-2.5 Ma) and T. oswaldi (2.0-1.0 Ma) in Kenya show that the earliest Theropithecus at 4 Ma had a diet dominated by C-4 resources. Progressively, this genus increased the proportion of C-4-derived resources in its diet and by 1.0 Ma, had a diet that was nearly 100% C-4-derived. It is likely that this diet was comprised of grasses or sedges; stable isotopes cannot, by themselves, give an indication of the relative importance of leaves, seeds, or underground storage organs to the diet of this primate. Theropithecus throughout the 4- to 1-Ma time range has a diet that is more C-4-based than contemporaneous hominins of the genera Australopithecus, Kenyanthropus, and Homo; however, Theropithecus and Paranthropus have similar proportions of C-4-based resources in their respective diets.
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