A matrilineal overthrow with destructive aggression inMacaca fascicularis

We report the sequence of a matrilineal overthrow in longtailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) during which the α-matriline dropped to the third of four ranks. In the initial phase of the overthrow, females from the former second ranking matriline attacked the females of the former α-matriline in a sequence which suggests a strategy. They attacked the highest ranking mother first and then directed their attacks toward her daughter, then toward her grand-daughter, and finally toward her great-grand-daughter. This seems to be the most effective way to disrupt the possible interventions of mothers in favor of their daughters.     

Tail length variation inMacaca fascicularis andM. mulatta

Based on collectors' measurements of 1,040 specimens, variation of relative tail length [RTL = (tail length/head and body length) × 100] has been studied inMacaca fascicularis andM. mulatta, two closely related species that replace one another in tropical Asia and subtropical Asia, respectively. RTL usually is greater than 90 inM. fascicularis and usually is less than 60 inM. mulatta; intermediate values occur in only 3.5% of specimens studied. Within each species, RTL is approximately equal in females and males. From infancy to adulthood, RTL tends to decline in both species. InM. fascicularis, RTL generally decreases with increasing latitude; inM. mulatta, RTL is approximately constant latitudinally. Where the geographic ranges of these two species meet at ca. 15°N in the Indochinese Peninsula, a few specimens have been collected in which RTL and dorsal pelage color are intermediate between those inM. fascicularis andM. mulatta. The observed pattern of variation suggests that the ranges ofM. fascicularis andM. mulatta formerly were separated by a zoogeographic barrier — perhaps during a Pleistocene glacial interval. After disappearance of the postulated barrier, the ranges of these two species apparently became contiguous and limited hybridization has occurred.     

Adult male replacement inMacaca fascicularis of East Kalimantan,Indonesia

This report on wild-ranging crab-eating macaques in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, describes male replacements for the first time in this species. A replacement at the alpha rank by an immigrant adult male was seen in this multimale troop during each year of the 20-month field study. The data show considerable variation in the process and outcome of social change. Adult male immigrants contested the alpha rank, whereas subadult male immigrants did not. The first replacement took 2 days, whereas the second one took 1 month. In the first replacement four males and 10 other residents left the troop. In the second replacement one of the two adult males was successful in immigrating when he replaced the resident male of his alpha rank, but the deposed alpha male was not evicted from the troop. Existing models of the causes of replacement (such as high density or human disturbance) and of the causes of infanticide are not supported by these data. Infanticide by immigrating males was not observed despite the apparent presence of the postulated circumstances conducive to infanticide.     

Differentiation of mitochondrial DNA types inMacaca fascicularis

Restriction fragment length polymorphism in the mitochondrial DNA ofMacaca fascicularis from four geographical regions, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indochina, was analyzed. In total, 21 types of mitochondrial DNA were detected using five restriction enzymes. These types were divided into two main groups based on phylogenetic analyses, one of which corresponded to the types of continental (Malaysia/Indochina) populations and the other to the types of a insular (Philippine) population. The types in the Indonesian population belonged to both groups. In the phylogenetic tree for the four populations, two clusters were constructed, one for the continental populations and the other for the insular ones.     

A simple model of the relationship between asymmetry and developmental stability

The relationship between developmental stability and morphological asymmetry is derived under the standard view that structures on each side of an individual develop independently and are normally distributed. I use developmental variance of sizes of parts, V_D, as the converse of developmental stability, and assume that V_D follows a gamma distribution. Repeatability of asymmetry, a measure of how informative asymmetry is about V_D, is quite insensitive to the variance in V_D, for example only reaching 20% when the coefficient of variation of V_D is 100%. The coefficient of variation of asymmetry, CV_FA, also increases very slowly with increasing population variation in V_D. CV_FA values from empirical data are sometimes over 100%, implying that developmental stability is sometimes more variable than any previously studied type of trait. This result suggests that alternatives to this model may be needed.     

Fluctuating asymmetry and developmental instability in evolutionary biology: past, present and future

The role of developmental instability (DI), as measured by fluctuating asymmetry (FA), in evolutionary biology has been the focus of a wealth of research for more than half a century. In spite of this long period and many published papers, our current state of knowledge reviewed here only allows us to conclude that patterns are heterogeneous and that very little is known about the underlying causes of this heterogeneity. In addition, the statistical properties of FA as a measure of DI are only poorly grasped because of a general lack of understanding of the underlying mechanisms that drive DI. If we want to avoid that this area of research becomes abandoned, more efforts should be made to understand the observed heterogeneity, and attempts should be made to develop a unifying statistical protocol. More specifically, and perhaps most importantly, it is argued here that more attention should be paid to the usefulness of FA as a measure of DI since many factors might blur this relationship. Furthermore, the genetic architecture, associations with fitness and the importance of compensatory growth should be investigated under a variety of stress situations. In addition, more focus should be directed to the underlying mechanisms of DI as well as how these processes map to the observable phenotype. These insights could yield more efficient statistical models and a unified approach to the analysis of patterns in FA and DI. The study of both DI and canalization is indispensable to obtain better insights in their possible common origin, especially because both have been suggested to play a role in both micro- and macro-evolutionary processes.     

Fluctuating asymmetry for specific bristle characters in Notch mutants of Drosophila melanogaster

Asymmetry has been used as a measure of developmental stability for bilaterally symmetrical organisms. Most studies have failed to partition the genetic and environmental contributions to the asymmetry phenotype due to the limitations of the systems used or the shortcomings in experimental design. The Notch mutants of Drosophila melanogaster were used to study the genetic contribution to asymmetry for six different bristle characters. Asymmetry response was character specific for the mutants examined. For N ^spl, N ^Co, N ^264–47, Ax ^71d, Ax ^9B2, Ax ^E2, l(1)N ^B and nd ² significant asymmetry responses, relative to wildtype Canton‐S, were observed for some characters. N ^60g11 and nd ¹ did not exhibit significant asymmetry for any of the characters examined. All of the mutants except N ^60g11 and nd ¹ showed thoracic bristle asymmetry. However, when asymmetry scores were pooled over the five bristle characters which individually exhibited fluctuating asymmetry, no significant differences were found between any genotypes. Therefore pooling asymmetry values across characters obscures the significant character specific asymmetry values observed. Thus caution is necessary when using the asymmetry phenotype of specific characters to draw organism wide conclusions about developmental stability. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Fluctuating asymmetry and age in children: evolutionary implications for the control of developmental stability

Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) is small deviations from perfect symmetry which reflect one component of fitness, i.e. developmental stability. There is accumulating evidence that low FA is important in inter- and intra-sexual selection in humans. However, there is little information on the pattern of FA in children. Data from cross-sectional studies of 680 participants from 2–18 years suggests that (1) both absolute and relative FA reduces with age until 10 years (2) there is an increase in FA in adolescents (11–15 years) with a peak at 13 years for males and 14 years for females (3) after 15 years there is reduction in FA which is maintained until 18 years. The importance of growth rate, metabolic maintenance and sex steroids on developmental stability is discussed.     

Development of the brain in staged embryos of the long-tailed monkey (Macaca fascicularis)

The external characteristics and successive morphological changes of the brain and its derivatives were studied in 69 long-tailed monkey embryos representing developmental stages 8 through 16. This morphogenesis follows a similar pattern to those of the rhesus, baboon, and human. Minor differences in the temporal sequence of specific developmental events include: 1) otic disc, adenohypophyseal pouch, and hippocampal internal sulcus formation in the long-tailed macaque occur at stage 10, stage 11, and after stage 16 respectively, which is comparable to human stages 9, 10, and 16; 2) formation of the trigeminal primordium and the motor root of the trigeminal nerve and evagination of the neurohypophysis occur at stage 12, stage 14, and stage 15, while in the human embryo these features are observed at stage 14, stage 15, and stage 16, respectively; and 3) closure of the lens pore, like in the rhesus monkey, occurs during stage 15, while in the baboon and human it takes place during stage 14. These temporal differences in the embryonic period are important factors to be taken into consideration in any embryological and teratological studies when usingM. fascicularis as a primate model.     

Fluctuating asymmetry in the otoliths of larval fish as an indicator of condition: conceptual and methodological aspects

Developmental instability, measured as fluctuating asymmetry (FA) in bilateral traits, has been used widely as an indicator of genetic or environmental stress in a variety of plant and animal taxa. FA arises as small deviations from perfect bilateral symmetry which reflect 'mistakes' in developmental processes resulting from the inability of the genotype to buffer itself effectively against environmental perturbations. Recently, it has been proposed that FA in the otoliths can be used as an indicator of condition in larval fish. This paper reviews the conceptual and methodological aspects of FA relevant to its potential use as a measure of well-being. Its simplicity makes FA an attractive tool to measure developmental precision and condition. However, there are several pitfalls, such as measuring error or potentially size dependence. Subtle asymmetries, i.e. between sides variation of a trait at the individual level, may not always be indicative of condition and should be interpreted with caution. The past-growth record of otoliths may provide a powerful means of studying the development of asymmetries at the level of the individual.     

Perception of stimuli presented as photographic slides in cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis)

The present study was designed to assess a monkey's perception of specific visual stimuli by measuring both the behavioral responses and duration of attention to the presentation of photographic slides. Five adult male cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis) were placed individually in an open field apparatus and presented a series of slides consisting of apples, a gorilla mask, a collage of colors, a human being, and a plain field. The slide of the gorilla mask followed by that of the human being received the most attention while the plain field received the least. In addition, the gorilla mask and human being elicited a range of behavioral responses with the higher ranking animals displaying a greater number of aggressive responses and the lower ranking animals displaying a greater number of submissive gestures. Taken together, these data would suggest that the slides of the gorilla mask and the human being were perceived by the monkeys as threatening. These results are consistent with a continuing theme observed among a number of studies of primate social perception — namely, that potentially threatening stimuli are a significant determinant of visual observing.     

The genetic basis of developmental stability in Apis mellifera II. Relationships between character size, asymmetry and single-locus heterozygosity

Haploid male and diploid female honey bees, Apis mellifera, from colonies headed by queens polymorphic at the malate dehydrogenase (MDH) locus were examined for the influence of MDH genotype and heterozygosity on the size and asymmetry of six morphological characters. Although there were significant differences among MDH genotypes for mean character size within colonies, these effects were inconsistent between colonies. There were no significant relationships between MDH genotype or heterozygosity and asymmetry, indicating that genetic variation at this locus has no impact on developmental stability in this species.     

Alternative seed-handling strategies in primates: seed-spitting by long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis)

Summary The seeds in fruits consumed by primates may be chewed and digested, swallowed and defecated intact, or separated from the flesh and spat out. We show by a combination of close field observations and experiments with caged animals, that long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) have a remarkably low threshold of 3–4 mm for swallowing seeds and also that wild macaques rarely break them. The seeds of 69% of the ripe fruit species eaten are spat out intact or cleaned outside the mouth and dropped. Seed-spitting significantly reduces the swallowed food bulk and may lessen the risk of releasing seed toxins during mastication. However, it requires that even small fruits are processed in the mouth one or a few at a time. We suggest that fruit storage in the cheek pouches of cercopithecine monkeys allows them to spit seeds individually without excessively slowing fruit intake while feeding on patchily distributed fruit. In contrast, Apes and New World monkeys apparently swallow and defecate most ripe seeds in their diet and colobine monkeys break and digest them, detoxifying seed defenses by bacterial fermentation.     

New Type of Puzzle-Task Finger Maze Learning in Macaca fascicularis

In order to easily estimate the global cognitive ability of nonhuman primates, we developed a 4-step noncorrection-method-type finger maze (4FM) based on the standard puzzle feeder. We tested 7 experimentally naïve long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) to assess the validity of the apparatus and the testing procedure. The most notable difference between the 4FM and the standard puzzle feeder is the presence of an error box. There is a hole at both ends of each step. One hole of each step is connected to the lower step or feeding box. The other hole of each step is connected to an error box. The monkey had to move the reward into the feeding box without dropping it into the error box and to retrieve the reward from the feeding box. Task difficulties could be controlled by deciding on which step to place the food reward at the beginning of the trial. All the monkeys could complete the tasks without food/water deprivation and pretraining. The results suggest that the 4FM is a suitable device to assess the cognitive ability of the monkeys simply, easily, and objectively.     

Fluctuating asymmetry of sexual and nonsexual traits in stalk‐eyed flies: a poor indicator of developmental stress and genetic quality

It has been proposed that females use fluctuating asymmetry (FA) in sexual ornaments to assess male quality. FA of sexual traits is predicted to show greater sensitivity to stress than FA of nonsexual traits, and to be heritable. We used a half‐sib mating design and manipulation of larval food environment to test these predictions on stalk‐eyed flies, Cyrtodiopsis dalmanni, in which females prefer males with larger eyespans. We measured size and FA of eyestalks and of two nonsexually selected characters, wing length and width. We found no evidence of an increase in FA under larval food stress in any of the individual traits, although trait size decreased under stress. We combined FA across traits into a single composite index, and found that males reared in the most benign larval environment had significantly higher composite FA than males reared on other media. There was no such effect in females. Heritability of FA was not significantly different from zero in any of the traits, in any of the environments, although trait sizes showed high heritability. We conclude that FA in sexual and nonsexual traits is a poor indicator of developmental stress and genetic quality.     

Structure and composition of the oral mucous membrane on the lips and cheeks of the monkey,Macaca fascicularis

Summary In seven monkeys (6 Macaca fascicularis, 1 M. mulatta; 2.4±0.6 kg in weight) the labial and buccal mucosae were studied morphologically and quantitatively. Following fixation by perfusion, the upper and lower lips and entire cheeks were dissected free and processed for light-, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Established programs (HISTOMEP, MUMANA II) and appropriate morphometric techniques were used to estimate, at the light-microscopic level, the epithelial thickness, the width of the combined lamina propria/submucosa, and the volumetric composition of the gland-containing portions of lip and cheek mucosae. The cheek epithelium was more than twofold thicker than the lip epithelium, on the average 0.46±0.04 and 0.21±0.02 mm, respectively, with no differences related to sex or topographical sites. The combined lamina propria/submuscosa was 1.32 ±0.19 and 1.50±0.26 mm in width in cheeks and lips, respectively. The main mucosal constituents at both sites were glandular and connective tissue, and lymph follicles associated with secretory ducts. In lips, the volume of plasma cells around gland acini correlated positively with the amount of lymphoid tissue present around topographically related ducts. It is suggested that the duct/ lymph follicle assembly may serve as a local antigen-recognition system.

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Zusammenfassung Die Lippen- und Wangenmukosa wurde an 7 Affen (6 M. fascicularis, 1 M. mulatta; 2,4±0,6 kg schwer) morphologisch und quantitativ untersucht. Nach einer Perfusionsfixation wurden Ober- und Unterlippen sowie ganze Wangen herauspräpariert und für Untersuchungen im Licht-, Raster und Transmissionselektronenmikroskop vorbereitet. Bestehende Programme (HISTOMEP, MUMANA II) und morphometrische Standardmethoden wurden verwendet, um lichtmikroskopisch die Epitheldicke, die Breite der kombinierten Lamina propria/Submukosa und die volumetrische Zusammensetzung der drüsenhaltigen Abschnitte der Lippen- und Wangenschleimhaut zu ermitteln. Das Wangenepithel war mehr als zweifach dicker als das Lippenepithel (0,46±0,04 und 0,21±0,02mm); die Epitheldicke war unabhängig von Geschlecht und Topographie. Die kombinierte Lamina propria/ Submukosa war im Wangenbereich 1,32±0,19, im Lippenbereich 1,50± 0,26 mm breit. Die Hauptelemente der Lippen- und Wangenschleimhaut sind Drüsen- und Bindegewebe sowie mit Ausführungsgängen assoziierte Lymphfollikel. In der Lippen-, nicht aber in der Wangenschleimhaut, ist das Volumen der die Drüsenacini umlagernden Plasmazellen positiv korreliert mit der Menge der Lymphfollikel an den benachbarten Ausführungsgängen. Es wird vermutet, daß das Ausführungsgang/Lymphfollikel-System zur lokalen Erkennung von Antigenen dienen könnte.

     

Isolation and culture of hepatocytes from the cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis)

Summary Isolation and culture techniques for hepatocytes from whole livers of the cynomolgus monkey,Macaca fascicularis, are described. Hepatocytes were isolated by two-step perfusion of livers, using collagenase with hyaluronidase; fructose and trypsin inhibitor were included to reduce cell loss. Yields from a single liver average 4×10⁹ cells with viabilities of 90.8±5.7%. Cells, plated on collagen substrates, were assessed for changes in morphology and various marker enzyme activities over a period of 7 d in culture. Cells exhibited a morphology similar to that observed for this species in vivo; little change in attached and spread cells was observed over the length of time monitored. Enzyme activities for catalase, succinate dehydrogenase, and tyrosine aminotransferase were observed to decrease significantly (though considerable activity remained), whereas acid phosphatase and 5′-nucleotide phosphodiesterase remained unchange. Activity of cytochrome P-450 reductase was observed to increase slightly for the first 2 d, then decrease to about 60% of initial levels. Activity of α-mannosidase was stable for 4 d but was observed to be increased at Day 7. Cells were observed to retain metabolic responsiveness demonstrated by glucose production by both gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis in response to glucagon stimulation. The monkey hepatocytes obtained by methods described here thus retain hepatocellular morphology and activity through at least 1 wk in culture without medium or culture modification.     

Feeding ecology of the long-tailed macaque(Macaca fascicularis) in Kalimantan Tengah,Indonesia

I studied long- tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis)feeding behavior and ecology as part of a larger behavioral ecological study at the Natai Lengkuas Station, Tanjung Puting National Park, Kalimantan Tengah, Indonesia. I collected data on feeding behavior via scan sampling of all visible individuals in the focal group (approximately 800 observation hours). I established vegetational plots and monitored them monthly to determine food availability and abundance. I found long- tailed macaques to be primarily frugivorous;leaves, flowers, insects and bark provided the remainder of the diet. They used at least 33 plant species as food sources, but >60% of the diet was provided by only 5 species. Based on previous vegetational analyses, these tree species were among the highest in relative density. However, selection ratios for 19 food species indicate that 13 of them were selected more often than expected. Long- tailed macaques appear to be selective feeders but can exploit a variety of food sources during periods of food scarcity.     

No relationship between fluctuating asymmetry and fitness in Lychnis viscaria

Several earlier studies have indicated a negative relationship between fluctuating asymmetry (FA) and fitness. We tested this assumption by investigating the association between petal asymmetry and several fitness-related characters among natural and common garden populations of Lychnis viscaria. Neither seed set, germination percentage nor the growth rate of seedlings were related to the level of flower asymmetry either among natural populations or in common garden conditions. The only significant association found was a positive connection between petal asymmetry and seed mass measured from natural populations. Thus, in contrary to many earlier published reports, we did not find any evidence for a negative relationship between FA and fitness even if we controlled for measurement error, we had adequate sample size and we measured these characters in two environments. This suggests that FA is not consistently related to individual quality and fitness.     

Object concept and mental representation inCebus apella andMacaca fascicularis

The achievement of Stage 6 object concept as an index of the representational capacity, was studied both in juveniles and adults of two nonhuman primate species,Cebus apella andMacaca fascicularis. The general goal of the present investigation was to evaluate the real nature of the strategy adopted by subjects searching an object in the invisible displacement task. To this purpose, the original Piagetian version of the invisible displacement task was used modifying some parameters and employing additional tasks and analyses in order to differentiate representational solutions from the nonrepresentational ones. With this method it was found that an adult cebus, but not macaques, solved the invisible displacement task with the use of the mental representation.