Inbreeding effects on dental morphometrics in Papio hamadryas

The dentition of nonhuman primates (Papio hamadryas) was utilized to investigate the hypothesis that inbreeding will affect mean tooth size and shape. More than five hundred dental casts were collected from baboons at the Institute of Experimental Pathology and Therapy in Sukhumi, USSR. In addition, inbreeding coefficients for each monkey were obtained from pedigree records, some going back seven to nine generations. Each tooth was measured and scored for the presence of discrete morphological structures. Inbred and outbred groups were differentiated and divided by sex. Statistical analysis shows that for the most part inbred monkeys exhibit larger teeth than outbred monkeys, in both male and female groups. When the tooth area of inbreds was compared to that of outbreds, the differences were significant. However, there were no significant differences in frequency of discrete traits. Therefore, it can be concluded that primate dentition is affected by inbreeding, although dental metrics is a more sensitive indicator than morphology.