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Climate, not Quaternary biogeography, explains skull morphology of the long-tailed macaque on the Sunda Shelf (2023)
Journal Article

Sundaland, comprising the low-lying Sunda Shelf, the major islands of Borneo, Sumatra, and Java, as well as many smaller surrounding islands, formed a contiguous landmass through much of the Pliocene and Pleistocene. Subsequent late-Pleistocene risin... Read More about Climate, not Quaternary biogeography, explains skull morphology of the long-tailed macaque on the Sunda Shelf.

Now you have read the book, what next? (2022)
Book Chapter
Bentley, G. R., Roberts, C. A., Elton, S., & Plomp, K. A. (2022). Now you have read the book, what next?. In K. A. Plomp, C. A. Roberts, S. Elton, & G. R. Bentley (Eds.), Palaeopathology and Evolutionary Medicine: An Integrated Approach. Oxford University Press

Skull variation in Afro-Eurasian monkeys results from both adaptive and non-adaptive evolutionary processes (2022)
Journal Article

Afro-Eurasian monkeys originated in the Miocene and are the most species-rich modern primate family. Molecular and fossil data have provided considerable insight into their evolutionary divergence, but we know considerably less about the evolutionary... Read More about Skull variation in Afro-Eurasian monkeys results from both adaptive and non-adaptive evolutionary processes.

Palaeoecology: considering proximate and ultimate influences in human diets and environmental responses in the early Holocene Dnieper River region of Ukraine (2022)
Book Chapter
Lillie, M. C., & Elton, S. (2022). Palaeoecology: considering proximate and ultimate influences in human diets and environmental responses in the early Holocene Dnieper River region of Ukraine. In K. A. Plomp, C. A. Roberts, S. Elton, & G. R. Bentley (Eds.), Palaeopathology and Evolutionary Medicine: An Integrated Approach. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198849711.003.0007

Humans evolved in diverse and variable environments, so understanding health and disease from evolutionary perspectives must include this consideration. In our contribution, we present an overview of early Holocene human health in changing environmen... Read More about Palaeoecology: considering proximate and ultimate influences in human diets and environmental responses in the early Holocene Dnieper River region of Ukraine.

On the misidentification of species: sampling error in primates and other mammals using geometric morphometrics in more than 4,000 individuals (2021)
Journal Article

An accurate classification is the basis for research in biology. Morphometrics and morphospecies play an important role in modern taxonomy, with geometric morphometrics increasingly applied as a favourite analytical tool. Yet, really large samples ar... Read More about On the misidentification of species: sampling error in primates and other mammals using geometric morphometrics in more than 4,000 individuals.

Is there a "Wainer's rule"? Testing which sex varies most as an example analysis using GueSDat, the free Guenon Skull Database (2017)
Journal Article

The distinguished statistician Howard Wainer claimed that larger phenotypic variance in males might be a general occurrence in mammals. We called this putative pattern 'Wainer's rule' and employed a dataset of more than 1300 specimens, each measured... Read More about Is there a "Wainer's rule"? Testing which sex varies most as an example analysis using GueSDat, the free Guenon Skull Database.

Pliocene primates (2017)
Book Chapter
Elton, S. (2017). Pliocene primates. In A. Fuentes (Ed.), The international encyclopedia of primatology. John Wiley and Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119179313.wbprim0476

The Pliocene fossil record is dominated by Old World monkeys and hominins. Pliocene lemur, loris, tarsier, New World monkey, and great ape fossils are nonexistent, and very few fossils of galagos and gibbons have been found. All known Pliocene primat... Read More about Pliocene primates.

Adaptive Radiation (2017)
Book Chapter
Elton, S. (2017). Adaptive Radiation. In A. Fuentes (Ed.), The international encyclopedia of primatology. John Wiley and Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119179313.wbprim0207

Adaptive radiation is the rapid diversification, from a single common ancestor, of a group of species whose members exhibit a diverse array of adaptations and occupy different ecological niches. Numerous adaptive radiations are evident in the primate... Read More about Adaptive Radiation.

Paleobiology and behavior (2017)
Book Chapter
Elton, S. (2017). Paleobiology and behavior. In A. Fuentes (Ed.), The international encyclopedia of primatology. John Wiley and Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119179313.wbprim0485

Paleobiology, the study of ancient life, gives us a window onto the habits, biology, and behavior of individuals and species that are now extinct. Although extinct species cannot be observed directly, their paleobiology and behavior can be inferred f... Read More about Paleobiology and behavior.

Palaeoenvironmental and sea-level change (2017)
Book Chapter
Elton, S. (2017). Palaeoenvironmental and sea-level change. In A. Fuentes (Ed.), The international encyclopedia of primatology. John Wiley and Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119179313.wbprim0481

Ancient environmental and sea-level changes are very likely to have played key roles in primate speciation, extinction, adaptation, and dispersal. Most modern primates are ecologically dependent on trees and inhabit tropical environments, and the sam... Read More about Palaeoenvironmental and sea-level change.

Phylogeny, phylogenetic inference, and cranial evolution in pitheciids and Aotus (2016)
Journal Article
Bjarnason, A., Soligo, C., & Elton, S. (2017). Phylogeny, phylogenetic inference, and cranial evolution in pitheciids and Aotus. American Journal of Primatology, 79(3), Article e22621. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.22621

Pitheciids, one of the major radiations of New World monkeys endemic to South and Central America, are distributed in the Amazon and Orinoco basins, and include Callicebus, Cacajao, Chiropotes, and Pithecia. Molecular phylogenetics strongly support p... Read More about Phylogeny, phylogenetic inference, and cranial evolution in pitheciids and Aotus.

Quaternary fossil fauna from the Luangwa Valley, Zambia (2016)
Journal Article
Bishop, L., Barham, L., Ditchfield, P., Elton, S., Harcourt-Smith, W., & Dawkins, P. (2016). Quaternary fossil fauna from the Luangwa Valley, Zambia. Journal of Quaternary Science, 31(3), 178-190. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.2855

This paper describes a large collection of Quaternary fossil fauna from the Luangwa Rift Valley, Zambia. Stone Age artefacts have been recovered from stratified fluvial contexts, but no in situ fossil faunas have yet been recovered. We report on 500... Read More about Quaternary fossil fauna from the Luangwa Valley, Zambia.

Exploring morphological generality in the Old World monkey postcranium using an ecomorphological framework (2016)
Journal Article
Elton, S., Jansson, A., Meloro, C., Louys, J., Plummer, T., & Bishop, L. C. (2016). Exploring morphological generality in the Old World monkey postcranium using an ecomorphological framework. Journal of Anatomy, 228(4), 534-560. https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.12428

Nearly all primates are ecologically dependent on trees, but they are nonetheless found in an enormous range of habitats, from highly xeric environments to dense rainforest. Most primates have a relatively ‘generalised’ skeleton, enabling locomotor f... Read More about Exploring morphological generality in the Old World monkey postcranium using an ecomorphological framework.

Disrupted seasonal biology impacts health, food security and ecosystems (2015)
Journal Article
Stevenson, T., Visser, M., Arnold, W., Barrett, P., Biello, S., Dawson, A., …Helm, B. (2015). Disrupted seasonal biology impacts health, food security and ecosystems. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282(1817), https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.1453

The rhythm of life on earth is shaped by seasonal changes in the environment. Plants and animals show profound annual cycles in physiology, health, morphology, behaviour and demography in response to environmental cues. Seasonal biology impacts ecosy... Read More about Disrupted seasonal biology impacts health, food security and ecosystems.

Phylogeny, ecology, and morphological evolution in the atelid cranium (2015)
Journal Article
Bjarnason, A., Soligo, C., & Elton, S. (2015). Phylogeny, ecology, and morphological evolution in the atelid cranium. International Journal of Primatology, 36(3), 513-529. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10764-015-9839-z

Reconstructing evolutionary relationships of living and extinct primate groups requires reliable phylogenetic inference based on morphology, as DNA is rarely preserved in fossil specimens. Atelids (family Atelidae) are a monophyletic clade and one of... Read More about Phylogeny, ecology, and morphological evolution in the atelid cranium.

The potential and pitfalls of using simple dental metrics to infer the diets of African antelopes (Mammalia: Bovidae) (2015)
Journal Article
Louys, J., Meloro, C., Elton, S., Ditchfield, P., & Bishop, L. C. (2015). The potential and pitfalls of using simple dental metrics to infer the diets of African antelopes (Mammalia: Bovidae). Palaeontologia africana, 49, 8-24

The use of mesowear to infer diets of extinct species is fast becoming widespread in palaeoecological studies. Nevertheless, traditional mesowear analyses suffer from a specimen number limitation, in that a minimum number of specimens identified to t... Read More about The potential and pitfalls of using simple dental metrics to infer the diets of African antelopes (Mammalia: Bovidae).

Species, populations and groups in human evolution (2015)
Book Chapter
Elton, S., & Dunn, J. (2015). Species, populations and groups in human evolution. In P. Kreager, B. Winney, S. Ulijaszek, & C. Capelli (Eds.), Population in the human sciences : concepts, models, evidence (401-430). Oxford University Press

Analytical framework for reconstructing heterogeneous environmental variables from mammal community structure (2014)
Journal Article
Louys, J., Meloro, C., Elton, S., Ditchfield, P., & Bishop, L. C. (2015). Analytical framework for reconstructing heterogeneous environmental variables from mammal community structure. Journal of Human Evolution, 78, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.11.001

We test the performance of two models that use mammalian communities to reconstruct multivariate palaeoenvironments. While both models exploit the correlation between mammal communities (defined in terms of functional groups) and arboreal heterogenei... Read More about Analytical framework for reconstructing heterogeneous environmental variables from mammal community structure.

Macaques at the margins: the biogeography and extinction of Macaca sylvanus in Europe (2014)
Journal Article
Elton, S., & O'Regan, H. J. (2014). Macaques at the margins: the biogeography and extinction of Macaca sylvanus in Europe. Quaternary Science Reviews, 96, 117-130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.04.025

The genus Macaca (Primates: Cercopithecidae) originated in Africa, dispersed into Europe in the Late Miocene and resided there until the Late Pleistocene. In this contribution, we provide an overview of the evolutionary history of Macaca in Europe, p... Read More about Macaques at the margins: the biogeography and extinction of Macaca sylvanus in Europe.

Biogeographic variation in the baboon: dissecting the cline (2013)
Journal Article
Dunn, J., Cardini, A., & Elton, S. (2013). Biogeographic variation in the baboon: dissecting the cline. Journal of Anatomy, 223(4), 337-352. https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.12085

All species demonstrate intraspecific anatomical variation. While generalisations such as Bergman's and Allen's rules have attempted to explain the geographic structuring of variation with some success, recent work has demonstrated limited support fo... Read More about Biogeographic variation in the baboon: dissecting the cline.

Cats in the forest: predicting habitat adaptations from humerus morphometry in extant and fossil Felidae (Carnivora) (2013)
Journal Article
Meloro, C., Elton, S., Louys, J., Bishop, L., & Ditchfield, P. (2013). Cats in the forest: predicting habitat adaptations from humerus morphometry in extant and fossil Felidae (Carnivora). Paleobiology, 39(3), 323-344. https://doi.org/10.1666/12001

Mammalian carnivores are rarely incorporated in paleoenvironmental reconstructions, largely because of their rarity within the fossil record. However, multivariate statistical modeling can be successfully used to quantify specific anatomical features... Read More about Cats in the forest: predicting habitat adaptations from humerus morphometry in extant and fossil Felidae (Carnivora).

The Evolutionary History and Palaeo-Ecology of Primate Predation: Macaca sylvanus from Plio-Pleistocene Europe as a Case Study (2013)
Journal Article

In this article we briefly review primate interactions with predators throughout their evolutionary history. Like today, predators of past primates were taxonomically diverse, including crocodilians, aquatic mammals, hyaenids, raptors and other prima... Read More about The Evolutionary History and Palaeo-Ecology of Primate Predation: Macaca sylvanus from Plio-Pleistocene Europe as a Case Study.

Clines in Africa: does size vary in the same way among widespread sub-Saharan monkeys? (2012)
Journal Article
Cardini, A., Dunn, J., O'Higgins, P., & Elton, S. (2012). Clines in Africa: does size vary in the same way among widespread sub-Saharan monkeys?. Journal of Biogeography, 40(2), 370-381. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2012.02783.x

Aim We characterize and compare patterns of clinal size variation among diverse widespread sub-Saharan monkeys with the aim of identifying commonalities and differences in biogeographical variation. Thus, we accurately quantify nonlinear clines in re... Read More about Clines in Africa: does size vary in the same way among widespread sub-Saharan monkeys?.

Humeral shape in felids: phylogenetic, locomotor and allometric influences. (2012)
Journal Article
Walmsley, A., Elton, S., Louys, J., Bishop, L., & Meloro, C. (2012). Humeral shape in felids: phylogenetic, locomotor and allometric influences. Journal of Morphology, 273(12), 1424-1438. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.20084

Bone morphology of the cats (Mammalia: Felidae) is influenced by many factors, including locomotor mode, body size, hunting methods, prey size and phylogeny. Here, we investigate the shape of the proximal and distal humeral epiphyses in extant specie... Read More about Humeral shape in felids: phylogenetic, locomotor and allometric influences..

Stable isotopes provide independent support for the use of mesowear variables for inferring diets in African antelopes (2012)
Journal Article
Louys, J., Ditchfield, P., Meloro, C., Elton, S., & Bishop, L. (2012). Stable isotopes provide independent support for the use of mesowear variables for inferring diets in African antelopes. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279(1746), 4441-4446. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.1473

We examine the relationship between mesowear variables and carbon and nitrogen isotopes in 16 species of African antelope (Mammalia: Bovidae). We show significant differences in carbon and nitrogen isotope values between individuals exhibiting sharp... Read More about Stable isotopes provide independent support for the use of mesowear variables for inferring diets in African antelopes.

Impacts of environmental change and community ecology on the composition and diversity of the southern African monkey fauna from the Plio-Pleistocene to the present (2012)
Book Chapter
Elton, S. (2012). Impacts of environmental change and community ecology on the composition and diversity of the southern African monkey fauna from the Plio-Pleistocene to the present. In S. C. Reynolds, & A. Gallagher (Eds.), African genesis : perspectives on hominin evolution (471-486). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781139096164.028

The southern African cercopithecid (monkey) fauna has undergone a profound change in composition and diversity since the Plio-Pleistocene, with modern species representing only a small part of the diversity that existed in the past. During the Plio-P... Read More about Impacts of environmental change and community ecology on the composition and diversity of the southern African monkey fauna from the Plio-Pleistocene to the present.

Hominins without fellow travellers? First appearances and inferred dispersals of Afro-Eurasian large-mammals in the Plio-Pleistocene. (2011)
Journal Article
O’Regan, H., Turner, A., Bishop, L., Elton, S., & Lamb, A. (2011). Hominins without fellow travellers? First appearances and inferred dispersals of Afro-Eurasian large-mammals in the Plio-Pleistocene. Quaternary Science Reviews, 30(11-12), 1343-1352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.11.028

Discoveries of fossil Homo outside Africa predating 1.0 Ma have generated much discussion about hominin dispersal routes. However, tool-using bipeds were only one element of the inter-continental mammalian dispersals that occurred during the climatic... Read More about Hominins without fellow travellers? First appearances and inferred dispersals of Afro-Eurasian large-mammals in the Plio-Pleistocene..

Environments, adaptation and evolutionary medicine: should we be eating a ‘Stone Age’ diet? (2008)
Book Chapter
Elton, E. (2008). Environments, adaptation and evolutionary medicine: should we be eating a ‘Stone Age’ diet?. In P. O’Higgins, & S. Elton (Eds.), Medicine and evolution: current applications, future prospects (9-34). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781420051377.ch2

A central tenet of evolutionary or Darwinian medicine is that many chronic diseases and degenerative conditions evident in modern Western populations have arisen because of a mismatch between ‘Stone Age’ genes and recently-adopted lifestyles [1 – 5].... Read More about Environments, adaptation and evolutionary medicine: should we be eating a ‘Stone Age’ diet?.

Seasonality, climatic unpredictability, food deprivation and polycystic ovary syndrome (2008)
Book Chapter
Shaw, L., & Elton, S. (2008). Seasonality, climatic unpredictability, food deprivation and polycystic ovary syndrome. In S. Elton, & P. O’Higgins (Eds.), Medicine and evolution : current applications, future prospects (77-97). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781420051377.ch5

Stein and Leventhal’s finding of polycystic ovaries, which they eponymously described as part of a circumscribed clinical syndrome [1], has evolved to become a nebulous entity with polycystic ovaries as a prominent component. Biochemical aspects, bot... Read More about Seasonality, climatic unpredictability, food deprivation and polycystic ovary syndrome.

Medicine and evolution : current applications, future prospects (Introduction) (2008)
Book Chapter
Elton, S., & O’Higgins, P. (2008). Medicine and evolution : current applications, future prospects (Introduction). In P. O’Higgins, & S. Elton (Eds.), Medicine and evolution : current applications, future prospects (1-8). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781420051377

There is increasing interest in examining aspects of health and disease in the context of evolutionary theory [1, 2, 3], and the past decade has witnessed the rise of evolutionary or ‘Darwinian’ medicine as an entity distinct from anthropology, evolu... Read More about Medicine and evolution : current applications, future prospects (Introduction).

Walking on trees (2007)
Journal Article
O'Higgins, P., & Elton, S. (2007). Walking on trees. Science, 316(5829), 1292-1294. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1143571

Observations of modern orangutans suggest that human bipedalism may have evolved in the trees rather than on the ground.

Muzzle size, paranasal swelling size and body mass in Mandrillus leucophaeus (2006)
Journal Article
Elton, S., & Morgan, B. (2006). Muzzle size, paranasal swelling size and body mass in Mandrillus leucophaeus. Primates, 47(2), 151-157. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-005-0164-6

The drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus), a forest-living Old World monkey, is highly sexually dimorphic, with males exhibiting extreme secondary sexual characteristics, including growth of paranasal swellings on the muzzle. In this study, the size of the... Read More about Muzzle size, paranasal swelling size and body mass in Mandrillus leucophaeus.

Forty years on and still going strong: the use of hominin-cercopithecid comparisons in palaeoanthropology (2006)
Journal Article
Elton, S. (2006). Forty years on and still going strong: the use of hominin-cercopithecid comparisons in palaeoanthropology. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 12(1), 19-38. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2006.00279.x

Hominin-cercopithecid comparisons have been used in palaeoanthropology for over forty years. Fossil cercopithecids can be used as a ‘control group’ to contextualize the adaptations and evolutionary trends of hominins. Observations made on modern cerc... Read More about Forty years on and still going strong: the use of hominin-cercopithecid comparisons in palaeoanthropology.