Testing adaptive significance of primate color vision by behavioral and genetic studies of wild populations of New World monkeys

色觉是灵长类的一个重要特征，新热带猕猴在这一特征上具有高度的多态。我们对居住在哥斯达黎加圣罗莎国家公园的蜘蛛猴(Ateles Geoffroyi)和卷尾猴(Cebus Capucinus)进行了实地研究。在蜘蛛猴中，由于水果与背景叶的亮度对比度是水果检测的主要决定因素，所以二色仪在检测水果方面并不比三色差。嗅觉检查也是蜘蛛猴摄取或排斥水果的重要决定因素。在卷尾猴中，二色猴在捕食表面昆虫方面更占优势。另一方面，L-M视蛋白基因在田岛县D的核苷酸序列比中性参考序列更具多态和阳性，这表明它们的L-M视蛋白基因正在进行平衡选择。综合行为学和遗传学研究的结果，不同颜色视觉类型在同一种群中共存是适应的。

Color vision is an important characteristic of primates and Neotropical monkeys are highly polymorphic for this trait. We have conducted a field study on spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) and capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus) inhabiting Santa Rosa National Park, Costa Rica. In spider monkeys dichromats were not inferior to trichromats in detecting fruits because the luminance contrast of fruits to background leaves was the main determinant of the fruit detection. Olfactory inspection was also an important determinant for ingestion or rejection of fruits in the spider monkeys. In capuchin monkeys dichromats were more superior in foraging for surface-dwelling insects. On the other hand, the nucleotide sequence of the L-M opsin gene was more polymorphic and positive in Tajima's D than the sequences of the neutral references in these monkeys, indicating balancing selection operating on their L-M opsin gene. Taking the results of behavioral and genetic studies together, coexistence of different color vision types in the same population is adaptive.