Morphological relationship between food・foodintake and the masticatory apparatus in Primates

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between food/food habit and oral volume in primates. Adult dry skeletons held in Dokkyo University School of Medicine, Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University, and Japan Monkey Center were used here. Becouse the capacity of oral cavity decrease with teeth attrition, materials with small tooth attrition are used. After occlusion, upper and lower dental arches were covered with thin dental paraffin from outside. Mandibular base is also covered with thick dental wax. The shot was used to measure the capacity of the oral cavity. Observation of the morphology of the palate was also carried out in primates and in other mammals. The data was analyzed using the program for statistics (Statview). The Japanese macaque was used to examine an intraspecific variation.An intraspecific variation was large in the oral volume of the Japanese macaques. In primates, the oral volume showed high correlation coefficient with maximum cranial length, even in baboons which show extreme prognathism. Consequently, the projection of the palate in Primates does not correlate directly with an increase in oral volume. The folivorous primates have deep palate, but they have slightly narrow palate compared with those in other primates. Homo and neanderthals have different oral cavity form. This may depends on their ability in speech. Tthe palate width in these species are relatively wider than those in other primates.