ABSTRACT
Since early in the twentieth century, two distinct upper canine morphologies have been assigned to the fossil hominoid Sivapithecus from the Siwaliks of Indo-Pakistan. The canine sample as a whole has been critically important in conceptions of Sivapithecus taxonomy and paleobiology. Some specimens of one canine type are associated with other dental and gnathic material of Sivapithecus, whereas all specimens of the other type occur as isolated teeth. One unusual feature of all of the latter specimens is the lack of a distal wear facet, even on teeth with an extensive mesial wear facet showing that the teeth were in functional occlusion. This condition is never found in the upper canines of extant anthropoids, indicating that the canines of the second type have been misidentified as hominoid teeth. Comparisons with the canines of other mammals revealed that they are in fact the canines of female suids. Removing these canines from Sivapithecus calls into question one recent taxonomic revision of the genus that argued for time-successive species of Sivapithecus based on the perceived temporal segregation of the two canine morphologies. It also alters certain perceptions about canine sexual dimorphism in Sivapithecus.
Jay Kelley. Department of Oral Biology, College of Dentistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, 801 South Paulina, Chicago, IL 60091, USA
KEY WORDS: Hominoidea, Miocene; teeth, canine; taxonomy; Sivapithecus; Suidae
PE Article Number: 8.1.16A
Copyright: Society of Vertebrate Paleontology May 2005
Submission: 9 July 2004. Acceptance: 25 April 2005
