Comparisons of Enamel Thickness in the Anterior Dentition of Old World Monkeys

Old World Monkeys are the most successful and diverse groups of all non-human primates. They represent a superfamily of catarrhine primates know as the Cercopithecoidea consisting of one family Cercopithecidea, which is divided into two subfamilies the Cercopithecinae and the Colobinae (Table 1.1). The classification of the cercopithecids is based upon both molecular (Andrews, 1986; Disotell, 1996) and morphological characters (Shoshani, et al., 1996) (Figures 1.1a &b). The living cercopithecids share a number of shared derived traits, among these are bilophodont molars and incisors with little to no enamel on the lingual surface (Strasser and Delson, 1987). Both subfamilies have two rather than three premolars in each quadrant and a dental formula of 2-1 -l-l. These traits are believed to have developed as a response to dietary and ecological adaptations