Abstract

Primates, the most colorful mammalian radiation, have previously served as an interesting model to test the functions and evolutionary drivers of variation in eye color. We assess the contribution of photo-regulatory and communicative functions to the external eye appearance of nine macaque species representing all the branches of their radiation. Macaques’ well described social structure and wide geographical distribution make them interesting to explore. We find that (1) the posterior option of the anterior eyeball is more pigmented closer to the equator, suggesting photoprotective functions. We also find that (2) the temporal side of the eyeball is more heavily pigmented than the nasal side. This suggests that eyeball pigmentation in macaques is distributed to reduce damage to the corneal limbus. The inclusion of a translocated population of M. fuscata in our analyses also suggests that external eye appearance may change quickly, perhaps owing to phenotypic plasticity. We find no evidence that communicative functions drive variation in external eye appearance in macaques. These results suggest that the amount of light in a species’ environment drives variation in eye coloration across macaque species. Furthermore, the geographical distribution of macaques hints at important factors that have yet to be accounted for, such as the reflectivity of the terrain a given species inhabits.

Details

Title
Photoregulatory functions drive variation in eye coloration across macaque species
Author
Perea-García, Juan Olvido 1 ; Massen, Jorg J. M. 2 ; Ostner, Julia 3 ; Schülke, Oliver 3 ; Castellano-Navarro, Alba 4 ; Gazagne, Eva 5 ; José-Domínguez, Juan Manuel 6 ; Beltrán-Francés, Víctor 7 ; Kaburu, Stefano 8 ; Ruppert, Nadine 9 ; Micheletta, Jérôme 10 ; Gupta, Shreejata 11 ; Majolo, Bonaventura 12 ; Maréchal, Laëtitia 12 ; Pflüger, Lena S. 13 ; Böhm, Pia M. 14 ; Bourjade, Marie 15 ; Duran, Elif 16 ; Hobaiter, Catherine 17 ; Monteiro, Antónia 18 

 National University of Singapore, Department of Biological Sciences, Singapore, Singapore (GRID:grid.4280.e) (ISNI:0000 0001 2180 6431); Nicolaus Copernicus University, Center for Language Evolution Studies, Toruń, Poland (GRID:grid.5374.5) (ISNI:0000 0001 0943 6490) 
 Utrecht University, Animal Behaviour and Cognition, Department of Biology, Utrecht, The Netherlands (GRID:grid.5477.1) (ISNI:0000 0000 9637 0671) 
 Georg-August University, Department Behavioral Ecology, JFB Institute for Zoology and Anthropology, Göttingen, Goettingen, Germany (GRID:grid.7450.6) (ISNI:0000 0001 2364 4210); German Primate Center Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Research Group Primate Social Evolution, Goettingen, Germany (GRID:grid.418215.b) (ISNI:0000 0000 8502 7018); Leibniz Science Campus Primate Cognition, Goettingen, Germany (GRID:grid.511272.2) 
 Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU, CEU Universities, Ethology and Animal Welfare Section, Valencia, Spain (GRID:grid.412878.0) (ISNI:0000 0004 1769 4352); Leipzig University, Institute of Biology, Leipzig, Germany (GRID:grid.9647.c) (ISNI:0000 0004 7669 9786); University of Liège, Unit of Research SPHERES, Liège, Belgium (GRID:grid.4861.b) (ISNI:0000 0001 0805 7253) 
 University of Liège, Unit of Research SPHERES, Liège, Belgium (GRID:grid.4861.b) (ISNI:0000 0001 0805 7253); King Mongkut’s University of Technology, Conservation Ecology Program, Bangkhuntien, Thailand (GRID:grid.412151.2) (ISNI:0000 0000 8921 9789) 
 King Mongkut’s University of Technology, Conservation Ecology Program, Bangkhuntien, Thailand (GRID:grid.412151.2) (ISNI:0000 0000 8921 9789); University of Granada, Physical Anthropology Laboratory, Department of Legal Medicine, Toxicology and Physical Anthropology, Granada, Spain (GRID:grid.4489.1) (ISNI:0000 0001 2167 8994) 
 Fundació Universitat de Girona, Innovació I Formació, Girona, Spain (GRID:grid.5319.e) (ISNI:0000 0001 2179 7512) 
 Nottingham Trent University, School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences, Nottingham, UK (GRID:grid.12361.37) (ISNI:0000 0001 0727 0669) 
 Universiti Sains Malaysia, School of Biological Sciences, Gelugor, Malaysia (GRID:grid.11875.3a) (ISNI:0000 0001 2294 3534); Malaysian Primatological Society, Kulim, Malaysia (GRID:grid.11875.3a) 
10  University of Portsmouth, Department of Psychology, Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology, Portsmouth, UK (GRID:grid.4701.2) (ISNI:0000 0001 0728 6636) 
11  Aix-Marseille Université, Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive (LPC), Laboratoire Parole et Langage (LPL), CNRS, Marseille, France (GRID:grid.5399.6) (ISNI:0000 0001 2176 4817) 
12  University of Lincoln, School of Psychology, Lincoln, UK (GRID:grid.36511.30) (ISNI:0000 0004 0420 4262) 
13  University of Vienna, Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, Vienna, Austria (GRID:grid.10420.37) (ISNI:0000 0001 2286 1424); Kyoto University, Wildlife Research Center, Inuyama, Japan (GRID:grid.258799.8) (ISNI:0000 0004 0372 2033) 
14  University of Vienna, Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, Vienna, Austria (GRID:grid.10420.37) (ISNI:0000 0001 2286 1424) 
15  CLLE, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Toulouse, France (GRID:grid.503167.6) (ISNI:0000 0004 0384 1577); Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project, Nairobi, Kenya (GRID:grid.503167.6) 
16  Izmir University of Economics, Department of Psychology, Izmir, Turkey (GRID:grid.411796.c) (ISNI:0000 0001 0213 6380) 
17  University of St Andrews, School of Psychology, Fife, Scotland, UK (GRID:grid.11914.3c) (ISNI:0000 0001 0721 1626) 
18  National University of Singapore, Department of Biological Sciences, Singapore, Singapore (GRID:grid.4280.e) (ISNI:0000 0001 2180 6431); Yale-NUS College, Science division, Singapore, Singapore (GRID:grid.463064.3) (ISNI:0000 0004 4651 0380) 
Pages
29115
Publication year
2024
Publication date
2024
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3132461167
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2024. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.