Old World monkey

Abstract: List of contributors Preface 1. Old World monkeys: three decades of development and change in the study of the Cercopithecoidea Clifford J. Jolly and Paul F. Whitehead 2. The molecular systematics of the Cercopithecoidae Todd R. Disotell 3. Molecular genetic variation and population structure in Papio baboons Jeffrey Rogers 4. The phylogeny of the Cercopithecoidea Colin P. Groves 5. Ontogeny of the nasal capsule in cercopithecoids: a contribution to the comparative and evolutionary morphology of catarrhines Wolfgang Maier 6. Old World monkey origins and diversification: an evolutionary study of diet and dentition Brenda R. Benefit 7. Geological context of fossil Cercopithecoidea from eastern Africa Thomas Gundling and Andrew Hill 8. The oro-facial complex in macaques: tongue and jaw movements in feeding Karen Hiiemae 9. Evolutionary morphology of the skull in Old World monkeys Matthew J. Ravosa and Lorna P. Profant 10. Evolutionary endocrinology of the cercopithecoids Patricia L. Whitten 11. Behavioral ecology and socioendocrinology of reproductive maturation in cercopithecine monkeys Fred B. Bercovitch 12. Quantitative assessment of occlusal wear and age estimation in Ethiopian and Tanzanian baboons Jane E. Phillips-Conroy, Thore Bergman and Clifford J. Jolly 13. Maternal investment throughout the life span in Old World monkeys Lynn A. Fairbanks 14. Cognitive capacities of Old World monkeys based on studies of social behavior Irwin S. Bernstein 15. The effects of predation and habitat quality on the socioecology of African monkeys: lessons from the islands of Bioko and Zanzibar Thomas T. Struhsaker 16. The loud calls of black-and-white colobus monkeys: their adaptive and taxonomic significance in light of new data John F. Oates, C. M. Bocian and C. J. Terranova 17. Agonistic and affiliative relationships in a blue monkey group Marina Cords 18. Locomotor behavior in Ugandan monkeys Daniel L. Gebo and Colin A. Chapman 19. The behavioral ecology of Asian colobines Carey P. Yeager and Karen Kool Index.

Abstract: Molecular evidence suggests that the evolutionary split between hominoids and cercopithecoids occurred between 25 and 30 Myr ago, but fossil evidence for crown-group catarrhines (cercopithecoids and hominoids) before 20 Myr ago has been lacking; newly described fossils of a stem hominoid and a stem cercopithecoid precisely dated to 25.2 Myr ago help to fill this gap in the fossil record. Molecular evidence suggests that the evolutionary split between hominoids (apes and humans) and cercopithecoids (Old World monkeys) occurred between 25 million and 30 million years ago, but fossil evidence for the catarrhines (cercopithecoids and hominoids) only goes back some 20 million years. Nancy Stevens and colleagues go some way to filling this gap with the discovery of the earliest known evidence of both Old World monkeys and apes. The fossils, of a stem hominoid and a stem-cercopithecoid, were found in a stratum in the East African Rift of Tanzania precisely dated to 25.2 million years. This date, well back in the Oligocene epoch, adds greatly to the time in which both groups are known to have existed. Apes and Old World monkeys are prominent components of modern African and Asian ecosystems, yet the earliest phases of their evolutionary history have remained largely undocumented1. The absence of crown catarrhine fossils older than ∼20 million years (Myr) has stood in stark contrast to molecular divergence estimates of ∼25–30 Myr for the split between Cercopithecoidea (Old World monkeys) and Hominoidea (apes), implying long ghost lineages for both clades2,3,4. Here we describe the oldest known fossil ‘ape’, represented by a partial mandible preserving dental features that place it with ‘nyanzapithecine’ stem hominoids. Additionally, we report the oldest stem member of the Old World monkey clade, represented by a lower third molar. Both specimens were recovered from a precisely dated 25.2-Myr-old stratum in the Rukwa Rift, a segment of the western branch of the East African Rift in Tanzania. These finds extend the fossil record of apes and Old World monkeys well into the Oligocene epoch of Africa, suggesting a possible link between diversification of crown catarrhines and changes in the African landscape brought about by previously unrecognized tectonic activity5 in the East African rift system.

Abstract: The macaque visual system has been frequently used as a model for understanding functional aspects of human vision. There are, however, few studies directly comparing biochemically defined neuronal populations in the visual cortex of the two species. In this study we compared the distribution and morphological features of the parvalbumin-immunoreactive neuronal subpopulation within humans and Old World monkeys (Macaca fascicularis and Macaca mulatta) by using monoclonal antibodies against the Ca2(+)-binding protein parvalbumin (PV), a neuronal marker in the vertebrate cerebral cortex. Characteristic laminar density and distribution of PV is observed, matching that seen with cytochrome C-oxidase and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) immunoreactivity. Thus, parvalbumin is prominent in the layers receiving afferents from the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus. Terminal fields are rich in layer IVA and IVC and moderate in the blob-region of layer II-III of the monkey cortex. In the human visual cortex only layer IVC displays rich terminal fields. Parvalbumin is present in neurons within all layers of the cortex except layer I. Parvalbumin-immunoreactive (PV-ir) axons occur in different lamellae of the white matter containing axons belonging to association or projection neurons. The estimation of PV-ir neurons, determined for 50 microns-wide columns through the thickness of area 17, shows that the percentage of the total neuron number in area 17 of humans containing PV is 6.8 +/- 2.0%, and in the macaque monkey, 11.5 +/- 2.9%. The perikaryal area of PV-ir neurons varies according to the layer and is comparable in humans (109.3 +/- 40.8 microns2) and monkeys (94.3 +/- 29.5 microns2). However, the relative number of large PV-ir neurons is higher in humans. The immunoreactive product fills the thinnest cell processes and the shape of PV-ir neurons can be easily traced with the aid of a camera lucida. The shape of the neurons is similar in the two species studied, and they probably belong to non-spiny stellate, double-bouquet, chandelier, and basket cell classes. This study shows that parvalbumin acts as a marker for a subpopulation of interneurons in area 17, but it is also present in the geniculocortical as well as in corticocortical pathways. Moreover, the Old World monkey and human visual cortices have a similar, but not identical, distribution of this important calcium-binding protein.

Abstract: The evolution of the Old World monkey tribe Papionini, composed of macaques, baboons, mandrills, drills, and mangabeys, was examined using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence data on the cytochrome ox&se subunit II gene. When analyzed cladisticahy, these data support a baboon clade of savannah (Pupio) plus gelada ( Theropithecus) baboons, as well as a clade containing drill (Mandrillus) plus mangabey (Cercocebus) genera. This result stands in opposition to most morphological phylogenies, which break up the baboon clade by placing Papio and Mandrillus as sister taxa and Theropithecus as a more distantly related lineage. Analyses of CO11 gene sequences also suggest that the papionin ancestral stock divided into two lineages, one leading to macaques and the other to the purely African genera. From a molecular evolutionary perspective, the papionin CO11 gene sequences reveal a pattern of amino acid replacements concentrated in the regions spanning the mitochondrial membrane.