Abstract
Data on dental sex differences in seven of the eight currently recognized subspecies of Colobus guerezareveals a range of expression of sexual dimorphism. Males of most subspecies are larger than females throughout the dentition and this is especially pronounced for the canines and P 3 For C. g. guerezaand C. g. gallarum,however, sex differences in the canines and P 3 are less pronounced and females are often slightly larger than males in noncanine dental measurements. C. guerezasspp. occupying comparable habitats express similarities in the degree of maxillary canine dimorphism. In addition, for those subspecies distributed above the equator, there is also a cline of decreasing maxillary canine dimorphism from west to east in a progressively more northern direction. This cline corresponds to the occupation of increasingly more arid habitats, and reduced dimorphism is the result of larger maxillary canine size in females. We propose that this pattern of sexual dimorphism is related to differences in the relative intensity of predation pressure, guereza social organization, and energetic considerations. That the mandibular canine does not exhibit a similar trend of sexual dimorphism suggests that larger maxillary canines in females may function as weapons.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Blumenberg, B. (1985). Biometrical studies upon hominid teeth: The coefficient of variation, sexual dimorphism and the question of phylogenetic relationship.Biosystems 18: 149–184.
Cheney, D. L., and Wrangham, R. W. (1987). Predation. In Smuts, B. B., Cheney, D. L., Seyfarth, R. M., Wrangham, R. W., and Struhsaker, T. T. (eds.),Primate Societies, University of Chicago Press, London, pp. 227–240.
Clutton-Brock, T. H. (1975). Feeding behaviour of red colobus and black and white colobus in east Africa.Folia Primatol. 23: 165–207.
Dunbar, R. I. M. (1987). Habitat quality, population dynamics and group composition in Colobus monkeys(Colobus guereza).Int. J. Primatol. 8(4): 299–329.
Dunbar, R. I. M., and Dunbar, E. P. (1974). Ecology and population dynamics ofColobus guereza in Ethiopia.Folia Primatol. 21: 188–208.
Dunbar, R. I. M., and Dunbar, E. P. (1976). Contrasts in social structure among black-and-white colobus monkey groups.Anim. Behav. 24: 84–92.
Eisenberg, J. F. (1978). The evolution of arboreal herbivores in the class Mammalia. In Montgomery, G. G. (ed.),The Ecology of Arboreal Folivores, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, pp. 135–152.
Freedman, L. (1957). The Fossil Cercopithecoidea of South Africa.Annals of the Transvaal Museum Vol. 23, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Gaulin, S. J. C., and Sailer, L. D. (1985). Are females the ecological sex?Am. Anthropol. 87: 111–119.
Greenfield, L. O., and Washburn, A. (1991). Polymorphic aspects of male anthropoid canines.Am. J. Phys. Anthropol 84(1): 17–34.
Groves, C. P. (1973). Notes on the ecology and behaviour of the Angola colobus(Colobus angolensis P. L. Sclater 1860) in N.E. Tanzania.Folia Primatol. 20: 12–26.
Hayes, V. J. (1994).Sexual Dimorphism in the Dentition of African Old World Monkeys, Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Western Australia. Perth.
Hayes, V. J., Freedman, L., and Oxnard, C. E. (1995). Dental sexual dimorphism and morphology in African colobus monkeys as related to diet (under review).
Hull, D. B. (1979). A craniometric study of the black and whiteColobus Illiger 1881 (Primates: Cercopithecoidea).Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 51: 163–182.
Kay, R. F., Plavcan, J. M., Glander, K. E., and Wright, P. C. (1988). Sexual selection and canine dimorphism in New World monkeys.Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 77(3): 385–398.
Kingdon, J. (1974).East African Mammals: An Atlas of Evolution in Africa, Vol. 1, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Kingdon, J. (1981). Where have the colonists come from? A zoogeographical examination of some mammalian isolates in eastern Africa.Afr. J. Ecol. 19: 115–124.
Lancaster, J. B. (1984). Evolutionary perspectives on sex differences in higher primates. In Rossi, A. S. (ed.),Gender and the Life Course, Aldine, Chicago, pp. 3–27.
Lemos de Sa, R. M., Pope, T. R., Struhsaker, T. T., and Glander, K. E. (1993). Sexual dimorphism in canine length of woolly spider monkeys(Brachyteles arachnoides, E. Geoffroy 1806).Int. J. Primatol. 14(5): 755–763.
Leutenegger, W., and Kelley, J. T. (1977). Relationship of sexual dimorphism in canine size and body size to social, behavioural, and ecological correlates in Anthropoid primates.Primates 18(1): 117–136.
Leutenegger, W., and Larson, S. (1985). Sexual dimorphism in the postcranial skeleton of New World primates.Folia Primatol. 44: 82–95.
Lucas, P. W. (1981). An analysis of canine size and jaw shape in some Old and New World non-human primates.J. Zool. (London) 195: 437–448.
Lucas, P. W., Corlett, R. T., and Luke, D. A. (1986). Sexual dimorphism of tooth size in anthropoids.Hum. Evol. 1(1): 23–29.
Marler, P. (1969).Colobus guereza: Territoriality and group composition.Science 163: 93–95.
Marler, P. (1972). Vocalizations of East African monkeys. II. Black and white colobus.Behaviour 42: 175–197.
McNab, B. K. (1978). Energetics of arboreal folivores: Physiological problems and ecological consequences of feeding on a ubiquitous food supply. In Montgomery, G. G. (ed.),The Ecology of Arboreal Folivores, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, pp. 153–162.
Morbeck, M. E. (1977). Positional behaviour, selective use of habitat substrate and associated non-positional behaviour in free-rangingColobus guereza (Ruppel, 1835).Primates 18(1): 35–58.
Napier, P. H. (1985).Catalogue of Primates in the British Museum (Natural History) and Elsewhere in the British Isles, Part II: Family Cercopithecidea, Subfamily Colobinae, British Museum, London.
Oates, J. F. (1977a). The guereza and its food. In Clutton-Brock (ed.),Primate Ecology: Studies of Feeding and Ranging Behaviour in Lemurs, Monkeys and Apes, Academic Press, London, pp. 276–322.
Oates, J. F. (1977b). The social life of a black and white colobus monkey,Colobus guereza.Z. Tierpsychol. 45: 1–60.
Oxnard, C. E. (1983). Sexual dimorphisms in the overall proportions of primates.Am. J. Primatol 4: 1–22.
Pfeffer, P. (1989).Predators and Predation: The Struggle for Life in the Animal World. Facts on File; New York and London.
Pickford, M. (1986). On the origins of body size dimorphism in primates.Hum. Evol. 1(2): 77–90.
Pickford, M., Chiarelli, A. B. (1986). Sexual dimorphism in primates: where are we and where do we go from here?Hum. Evol. 1(1): 1–5.
Plavcan, J. M. (1993). Canine size and shape in male anthropoid primates.Am. J. Primatol. 92(2): 201–216.
Plavcan, J. M., and van Schaik, C. P. (1992). Intrasexual competition and canine dimorphism in anthropoid primates.Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 87: 461–477.
Plavcan, J. M., and van Schaik, C. P. (1993). Reconsidering canine dimorphism.Am. J. Phys. AnthropoL Suppl. 16: 159.
Rahm, U. H. (1970). Ecology, zoogeography and systematics of some African forest monkeys. In Napier, J. R., and Napier, P. H. (eds.),Old World Monkeys, Academic Press, New York, pp. 591–626.
Rose, M. D. (1978). Feeding and associated positional behaviour of black and white colobus monkeys. In Montgomery, G. G. (ed.),The Ecology of Arboreal Folivores, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, pp. 253–262.
Rowell, T. E., and Chism, J. (1986). Sexual dimorphism and mating systems: Jumping to conclusions.Hum. EvoL 1(3): 215–219.
Sabater Pi, J. (1973). Contribution to the ecology ofColobus polykomos satanas (Waterhouse, 1838) of Rio Muni, Republic of Equatorial Guinea.Folia Primatol. 19: 193–207.
Simpson, G. G., Roe, A., and Lewontin, R. C. (1960).Quantitative Zoology, rev. ed., Harcourt, Brace, New York.
Struhsaker, T. T. (1975).The Red Colobus Monkey, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Struhsaker, T. T., and Leland, L. (1987). Colobines: Infanticide by adult males. In Smuts, B. B., Cheney, D. L., Seyfarth, R. M., Wrangham, R. W., and Struhsaker, T. T. (eds.),Primate Societies, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 83–97.
Tobias, P. V. (1975). Brain evolution in the Hominoidea. In Tuttle, R. H. (ed.),Primate Functional Morphology and Evolution, Mouton, Paris, pp. 353–392.
Walker, A. (1984). Mechanisms of honing in the male baboon canine.Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 65: 47–60.
Wolfheim, J. H. (1983).Primates of the World: Distribution, Abundance and Conservation, University of Washington Press, Seattle and London.
Zingeser, M. R. (1969). Cercopithecoid canine tooth honing mechanisms.Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 31: 205–214.
Zingeser, M. R., and Pheonix, C. H. (1978). Metric characteristics of the canine dental complex in prenatally androgenized female rhesus monkeys(Macaca mulatto).Am. J. Phys. AnthropoL 49(2): 187–192.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hayes, V.J., Freedman, L. & Oxnard, C.E. The differential expression of dental sexual dimorphism in subspecies ofColobus guereza . International Journal of Primatology 16, 971–996 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02696112
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02696112