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Tooth Morphology and Dietary Specialization

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Food Acquisition and Processing in Primates

Abstract

It was Cuvier (1805) who complained about the pupils of Linné, who were more interested in sorting superficial characters of organisms for taxonomic purposes than in understanding them physiologically. There is no doubt that classification is an important step in the scientific process of defining an appropriate place within the natural system for any object, but reasoning should not halt at this point. Moreover, classifications have to be considered as preliminary unless based on sound functional and evolutionary reasoning (Bock, 1981).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Klinikum, Universität, Frankfurt/Main, West Germany

    Wolfgang Maier (Dr. Senckenbergische Anatomie)

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  1. Wolfgang Maier
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England

    David J. Chivers  & Alan Bilsborough  & 

  2. The Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London, England

    Bernard A. Wood

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Maier, W. (1984). Tooth Morphology and Dietary Specialization. In: Chivers, D.J., Wood, B.A., Bilsborough, A. (eds) Food Acquisition and Processing in Primates. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-5244-1_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-5244-1_13

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-5246-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-5244-1

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