Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Dental Microwear Texture Analysis of Varswater Bovids and Early Pliocene Paleoenvironments of Langebaanweg, Western Cape Province, South Africa

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Save article
View saved research
Journal of Mammalian Evolution Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The extensive early Pliocene mammalian assemblages at Langebaanweg hold the potential to provide important information about paleoenvironments of the southwestern tip of Africa, an area that today consititutes the Fynbos Biome. We here add to a growing body of literature on the paleoenviornments of the site with an examination of dental microwear textures of bovids from the Varswater Formation. Microwear texture analysis is a new, automated and repeatable approach that measures whole surfaces in three dimensions without observer error. A study of extant ruminants indicates that grazers have more anisotropic microwear surface textures, whereas browsers have more complex microwear surface textures. Fossil bovids recovered from the Muishond Fontein Pelletal Phosphorite Member vary in their microwear textures, with some taxa falling within the extant browser range, some closer to extant grazers, and others in between. These results are consistent with scenarios suggesting mosaic habitats including fynbos vegetation, some (probably C3) grasses, and woodland elements when these fossils were accumulated.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+
from $39.99 /Month
  • Starting from 10 chapters or articles per month
  • Access and download chapters and articles from more than 300k books and 2,500 journals
  • Cancel anytime
View plans

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, books and news in related subjects, suggested using machine learning.

References

  • Anyonge W (1996) Microwear on canines and killing behavior in large carnivores: saber function in Smilodon fatalis. J Mammal 77:1059–1067

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ashby MF (2005) Materials selection in mechanical design, 3rd edn. Butterworth, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker G, Jones LHP, Wardrop ID (1959) Cause of wear in sheeps teeth. Nature 184:1583–1584

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Biknevicius AR (1986) Dental function and diet in the Carpolestidae (Primates, Plesiadapiformes). Am J Phys Anthrop 71:157–171

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bodmer RE (1990) Ungulate frugivores and the browser-grazer continuum. Oikos 57:319–325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Capozza M (2001) Microwear analysis of Mammuthus meridionalis (Nesti, 1825) molar from Campo del Conte (Frosinone, Italy). In: Cavaretta G, Gioia P, Mussi M, Palombo MR (eds) The world of elephants: Proceedings of the 1st International Congress, Rome, 16–20 October 2001, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, pp 529–533

    Google Scholar 

  • Cerling TE, Harris JM, MacFadden BJ, Leakey MG, Quade J, Eisenmann V, Ehleringer JR (1997) Global vegetation change through the Miocene/Pliocene boundary. Nature 389:153–158, 9–11

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Coetzee JA, Rogers J (1982) Palynological and lithological evidence for the Miocene palaeoenvironment in the Saldanha Region (South Africa). Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 39:71–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conover WJ, Iman RL (1981) Rank transformations as a bridge between parametric and nonparametric statistics. Am Stat 35:124–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daegling DJ, Grine FE (1994) Bamboo feeding, dental microwear, and diet of the Pleistocene ape Gigantopithecus blacki. S Afr J Sci 90:527–532

    Google Scholar 

  • Demment MW, Vansoest PJ (1985) A nutritional explanation for body size patterns of ruminant and nonruminant herbivores. Am Nat 125:641–672

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • El Zaatari S, Grine FE, Teaford MF, Smith HF (2005) Molar microwear and dietary reconstruction of fossil Cercopithecoidea from the Plio-Pleistocene deposits of South Africa. J Hum Evol 49:180–205

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Estes RD (1991) The behavior guide to African mammals: including hoofed mammals, carnivores and primates. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • Filippi ML, Palombo MR, Barbieri M, Capozza M, Iacumin P, Longinelli A (2001) Isotope and microwear analyses on teeth of late Middle Pleistocene Elephas antiquus from the Rome area (La Polledrara, Casal de’ Pazzi). In: Cavaretta G, Gioia P, Mussi M, Palombo MR (eds) The world of elephants: Proceedings of the 1st International Congress, Rome, 16–20 October 2001, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, pp 534–539

    Google Scholar 

  • Fortelius M, Solounias N (2000) Functional characterization of ungulate molars using the abrasion-attrition wear gradient: a new method for reconstructing paleodiets. Am Mus Nov 3301:1–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franz-Odendaal TA, Solounias N (2004) Comparative dietary evaluations of an extinct giraffid (Sivatherium hendeyi) (Mammalia, Giraffidae, Sivatheriinae) from Langebaanweg, South Africa (early Pliocene). Geodiversitas 26:675–685

    Google Scholar 

  • Franz-Odendaal TA, Lee-Thorp JA, Chinsamy A (2002) New evidence for the lack of C4 grassland expansions during the early Pliocene at Langebaanweg, South Africa. Paleobiol 28:378–388

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franz-Odendaal TA, Kaiser TM, Bernor RL (2003) Systematics and dietary evaluation of a fossil equid from South Africa. S Afr J Sci 99:553–559

    Google Scholar 

  • Gagnon M, Chew AE (2000) Dietary preferences in extant African Bovidae. J Mammal 8:490–511

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gentry AW (1980) Fossil Bovidae (Mammalia) from Langebaanweg, South Africa. Ann S Afr Mus 79:213–337

    Google Scholar 

  • Godfrey LR, Semprebon GM, Jungers WL, Sutherland MR, Simons EL, Solounias N (2004) Dental use wear in extinct lemurs: evidence of diet and niche differentiation. J Hum Evol 47:145–169

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gordon IJ, Illius AW (1994) The functional significance of the browser-grazer dichotomy in African ruminants. Oecologia 98:167–175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green JL, Semprebon GM, Solounias N (2005) Reconstructing the palaeodiet of Florida Mammut americanum via low-magnification stereomicroscopy. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 223:34–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grine FE, Ungar PS, Teaford MF, El-Zaatari S (2006) Molar microwear in Praeanthropus afarensis: evidence for dietary stasis through time and under diverse paleoecological conditions. J Hum Evol 51:297–319

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gutierrez M, Lewis PJ, Johnson E (1998) Evidence of paleoenvironmental change from muskrat dental microwear patterns. Curr Res Pleistocene 15:107–108

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris JM (1991) Koobi Fora research project, vol 3. The fossil ungulates: geology, fossil artiodactyls, and paleoenvironments. Clarendon, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayek LAC, Bernor RL, Solounias N, Steigerwald P (1991) Preliminary studies of hipparionine horse diet as measured by tooth microwear. Ann Zool Fenn 28:187–200

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendey QB (1981) Geological succession at Langebaanweg, Cape Province, and global events of the late Tertiary. S Afr J Sci 77:33–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendey QB (1983) Palaeoenvironmental implications of the late Tertiary vertebrate fauna of the fynbos region. S Afr Nat Sci Prog Rep 75:100–116

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendey QB (1984) Southern African late Tertiary vertebrates. In: Klein RG (eds) Southern African prehistory and paleoenvironments. Balkema, Boston, pp 81–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofmann RR, Stewart DRM (1972) Grazer or browser: a classification based on the stomach structure and feeding habits of East African ruminants. Mammalia 36:226–240

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hopley PJ, Latham AG, Marshall JD (2006) Palaeoenvironments and palaeodiets of mid-Pliocene micromammals from Makapansgat Limeworks, South Africa: a stable isotope and dental microwear approach. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 233:235–251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunter JP, Fortelius M (1994) Comparative dental occlusal morphology, facet development, and microwear in two sympatric species of Listriodon (Mammalia, Suidae) from the middle Miocene of western Anatolia (Turkey). J Vert Paleontol 14:105–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs LL (1981) Miocene lorisid primates from the Pakistan Siwaliks. Nature 289:585–587

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Janis C (1990) The correlation between diet and dental wear in herbivorous mammals, and its relationship to the determination of diets of extinct species. In: Boucot AJ (ed) Evolutionary paleobiology of behavior and coevolution. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 241–259

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser TM, Solounias N (2003) Extending the tooth mesowear method to extinct and extant equids. Geodiversitas 25:321–345

    Google Scholar 

  • Kappelman J (1984) Plio-Pleistocene environments of Bed I and Lower Bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 48:171–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King T, Aiello LC, Andrews P (1999a) Dental microwear of Griphopithecus alpani. J Hum Evol 36:3–31

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • King T, Andrews P, Boz B (1999b) Effect of taphonomic processes on dental microwear. Am J Phys Anthrop 108:359–373

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kingdon J (1997) The Kingdon field guide to African mammals. Academic, San Diego

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein RG (1982) Patterns of ungulate mortality and ungulate mortality profiles from Langebaanweg (early Pliocene) and Elandsfontein (middle Pleistocene), South-western Cape Province, South Africa. Ann S Afr Mus 90:49–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Krause DW (1982) Jaw movement, dental function, and diet in the Paleocene multituberculate Ptilodus. Paleobiol 8:265–281

    Google Scholar 

  • Leakey MG, Teaford MF, Ward CV (2003) Cercopithecidae from Lothogam. In: Leakey MG, Harris J (eds) Lothagam. Columbia University Press, New York, pp 130–177

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis PJ, Gutierrez M, Johnson E (2000) Ondatra zibethicus (Arvicolinae, Rodentia) dental microwear patterns as a potential tool for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. J Arch Sci 27:789–798

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas PW (2004) Dental functional morphology: how teeth work. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucas PW, Teaford MF (1994) Functional morphology of colobine teeth. In: Davies AG, Oates JF (eds) Colobine monkeys: their ecology, behaviour and evolution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 173–203

    Google Scholar 

  • MacFadden BJ, Solounias N, Cerling TE (1999) Ancient diets, ecology, and extinction of 5-million-year-old horses from Florida. Science 283:824–827

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McNaughton SJ, Tarrants JL, McNaughton MM, Davis RH (1985) Silica as a defense against herbivory and a growth promotor in African grasses. Ecol 66:528–535

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Merceron G, Ungar PS (2005) Dental microwear and palaeoecology of bovids from the early Pliocene of Langebaanweg, Western Cape province, South Africa. S Afr J Sci 101:365–370

    Google Scholar 

  • Merceron G, Madelaine S (2006) Molar microwear pattern and palaeoecology of ungulates from La Berbie (Dordogne, France): environment of Neanderthals and modern human populations of the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic. Boreas 35:272–278

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merceron G, Blondel C, Brunet M, Sen S, Solounias N, Viriot L, Heintz E (2004a) The late Miocene paleoenvironment of Afghanistan as inferred from dental microwear in artiodactyls. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 207:143–163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merceron G, Viriot L, Blondel C (2004b) Tooth microwear pattern in roe deer (Capreolus capreolus L.) from Chize (western France) and relation to food composition. Small Rum Res 53:125–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merceron G, Blondel C, Viriot L, Koufos G, de Bonis L (2005a) A new method of dental microwear analysis: application to extant primates and Ouranopithecus macedoniensis (late Miocene of Greece). Palaios 20:551–561

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merceron G, de Bonis L, Viriot L, Blondel C (2005b) Dental microwear of fossil bovids from northern Greece: paleoenvironmental conditions in the eastern Mediterranean during the Messinian. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 217:173–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Leary M, Teaford MF (1992) Dental microwear and diet of mesonychids. J Vertebr Paleontol 12:45A

    Google Scholar 

  • Plummer TW, Bishop LC (1994) Hominid paleoecology at Olduvai gorge, Tanzania as indicated by antelope remains. J Hum Evol 27:47–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rafferty KL, Teaford MF, Jungers WL (2002) Molar microwear of subfossil lemurs: improving the resolution of dietary inferences. J Hum Evol 43:645–657

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rensberger JM (1973) Occlusion model for mastication and dental wear in herbivorous mammals. J Paleontol 47:515–528

    Google Scholar 

  • Rivals F, Deniaux B (2003) Dental microwear analysis for investigating the diet of an argali population (Ovis ammon antiqua) of mid-Pleistocene age, Caune de I’Arago cave, eastern Pyrenees, France. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 193:443–455

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts DL, Brink J (2002) Dating and correlation of Neogene coastal deposits in the Western Cape, South Africa: implications for neotectonism. S Afr J Geol 105:337–352

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanson GD (2006) The biomechanics of browsing and grazing. Am J Bot 93:1531–1545

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanson GD, Kerr SA, Gross KA (2007) So silica phytoliths really wear mammalian teeth? J Arch Sci 34:526–531

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schubert BW, Ungar PS, Sponheimer M, Reed KE (2006) Microwear evidence for plio-pleistocene bovid diets from Makapansgat Limeworks Cave, South Africa. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 241:301–319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott L (1995) Pollen evidence for vegetational and climatic change in southern Africa during the Neogene and Quaternary. In: Vrba ES, Denton GH, Partridge TC, Burkle LH (eds) Paleoclimate and evolution with emphasis on human origins. Yale University Press, New York, pp 65–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott RS, Ungar PS, Bergstrom TS, Brown CA, Grine FE, Teaford MF, Walker A (2005) Dental microwear texture analysis reflects diets of living primates and fossil hominins. Nature 436:693–695

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Scott RS, Ungar PS, Bergstrom TS, Brown CA, Childs BE, Teaford MF, Walker A (2006) Dental microwear texture analysis: technical considerations. J Hum Evol 51:339–349

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Semprebon G, Janis C, Solounias N (2004) The diets of the Dromomerycidae (Mammalia : Artiodactyla) and their response to miocene vegetational change. J Vertebr Paleontol 24:427–444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shipley LA (1999) Grazers and browsers: how digestive morphology affects diet selection. In: Launchbaugh KL, Sanders KD, Mosley JC (eds) Grazing behavior of livestock and wildlife. Idaho Forest, Wildlife and Range Experimental Station Bulletin #70. University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, pp 20–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Solounias N, Moelleken SMC (1992a) Dietary adaptations of two goat ancestors and evolutionary considerations. Geobios 25:797–809

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solounias N, Moelleken SMC (1992b) Tooth microwear analysis of Eotragus sansaniensis (Mammalia: Ruminantia), one of the oldest known bovids. J Vertebr Paleontol 12:113–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solounias N, Moelleken SMC (1993) Tooth microwear and premaxillary shape of an archaic antelope. Lethaia 26:261–268

    Google Scholar 

  • Solounias N, Semprebon G (2002) Advances in the reconstruction of ungulate ecomorphology with application to early fossil equids. Am Mus Nov 1–49

  • Solounias N, Moelleken SMC (2004) Dietary differences between two archaic ruminant species from Sansan, France. Hist Biol 7:203–220

    Google Scholar 

  • Solounias N, Teaford M, Walker A (1988) Interpreting the diet of extinct ruminants: the case of a non-browsing giraffid. Paleobiol 14:287–300

    Google Scholar 

  • Spencer LM (1997) Dietary adaptations of plio-pleistocene bovidae: implications for hominid habitat use. J Hum Evol 32:201–228

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sponheimer M, Reed KE, Lee-Thorp JA (1999) Combining isotopic and ecomorphological data to refine bovid paleodietary reconstruction: a case study from the Makapansgat Limeworks hominin locality. J Hum Evol 36:705–718

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Strait SG (1993) Molar morphology and food texture among small bodied insectivorous mammals. J Mammal 74:391–402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strait SG (1998) Tooth use and the physical properties of foods. Evol Anthrop 5:199–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teaford MF (1988) Scanning electron microscope diagnosis of wear patterns versus artifacts on fossil teeth. Scanning Microsc 2:1167–1175

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Teaford MF, Runestad JA (1992) Dental microwear and diet in Venezuelan primates. Am J Phys Anthrop 88:347–364

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Teaford MF, Maas MC, Simons EL (1996) Dental microwear and microstructure in early Oligocene primates from the Fayum, Egypt: implications for diet. Am J Phys Anthrop 101:527–554

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Teaford MF, Ungar P, Grine FE (2007) Dental microwear and hominin paleoecology. In: Sponheimer M, Ungar P, Reed K, Lee-Thorp J (eds) Early hominin paleoecology. University of Colorado Press, Boulder (in press)

  • Tixier H, Duncan P (1996) Are European roe deer browsers? A review of variations in the composition of their diets. Rev Ecol 51:3–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Ungar PS (1996) Dental microwear of European Miocene catarrhines: evidence for diets and tooth use. J Hum Evol 31:335–366

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ungar P (1998) Dental allometry, morphology, and wear as evidence for diet in fossil primates. Evol Anthrop 6:205–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ungar PS, Teaford MF (1996) Preliminary examination of non-occlusal dental microwear in anthropoids: implications for the study of fossil primates. Am J Phys Anthrop 100:101–113

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ungar PS, Brown CA, Bergstrom TS, Walkers A (2003) Quantification of dental microwear by tandem scanning confocal microscopy and scale-sensitive fractal analyses. Scanning 25:185–193

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ungar PS, Grine FE, Teaford MF, El Zaatari S (2006) Dental microwear and diets of African early Homo. J Hum Evol 50:78–95

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ungar PS, Scott RS, Scott JR, Teaford MF (2007) Dental microwear analysis: historical perspectives and new approaches. In: Irish JD, Nelson GC (eds) Dental anthropology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (in press)

  • Ungar PS, Teaford MF, Kay RF (2004) Molar microwear and shearing crest development in Miocene catarrhines. Anthrop 42:21–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Valkenburgh B, Teaford MF, Walker A (1990) Molar microwear and diet in large carnivores: inferences concerning diet in the sabretooth sat, Smilodon fatalis. J Zool 222:319–340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vincent JFV (1990) Fracture properties of plants. Adv Bot Res Inc Adv Plant Pathol 17:235–287

    Google Scholar 

  • Vrba ES (1980) The significance of bovid remains as indicators of environment and predation patterns. In: Behrensmeyer AK, Hill AP (eds) Fossils in the making. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 247–272

    Google Scholar 

  • Vrba ES (1985) Ecological and adaptive changes associated with early hominid evolution. In: Delson E (eds) Ancestors: the hard evidence. Liss, New York, pp 62–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Vrba E (1998) New fossils of Alcelaphini and Caprinae (Bovidae, Mammalia) from Awash, Ethiopia, and phylogenetic analysis of Alcelaphini. Pal Afr 127–198

  • Walker A (1984) Mechanisms of honing in the male baboon canine. Am J Phys Anthrop 65:47–60

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Dave Roberts, James Brink, Kaye Reed and Matt Sponheimer for discussions related to this project. We also thank Thalassa Matthews and Richard Smith for their kind invitation to participate in the workshop that prompted us to conduct the research described in this paper. We are grateful to the reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript, to Blaine Schubert for his help collecting molds of many of the extant specimens and to Margaret Avery and Graham Avery for allowing us to study the fossil materials in their care. Research described in this paper was funded by US National Science Foundation Grants BCS 0222176, 0315157 and 0510038 and a Fyssen Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship to GM.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas, Old Main 330, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA

    Peter S. Ungar & Robert S. Scott

  2. Biozentrum Grindel and Zoological Museum, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Gildas Merceron

Authors
  1. Peter S. Ungar
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gildas Merceron
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Robert S. Scott
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter S. Ungar.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ungar, P.S., Merceron, G. & Scott, R.S. Dental Microwear Texture Analysis of Varswater Bovids and Early Pliocene Paleoenvironments of Langebaanweg, Western Cape Province, South Africa. J Mammal Evol 14, 163–181 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-007-9050-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-007-9050-x

Keywords

Profiles

  1. Gildas Merceron View author profile