abstract: The earliest Eocene marked the appearance of the first North American euprimates (adapids, omomyids). Despite the fact that leading hypotheses assert that traits involved in food acquisition underlie euprimate origination and early diversification, the precise role that dietary competition played in establishing euprimates as successful members of mammalian communities is unclear. This is because the degree of niche overlap between euprimates and all likely mammalian dietary competitors ("the euprimate competitive guild") is unknown. This research determined which of three major competition hypotheses - non-competition, strong competition, and weak competition - characterized the late Paleocene-early Eocene euprimate competitive guild. Each of these hypotheses is defined by a unique temporal pattern of niche overlap between euprimates and their non-euprimate competitors, allowing an evaluation of the nature of dietary competitive interactions surrounding the earliest euprimates in North America. Dietary niches were reconstructed for taxa within the fossil euprimate competitive guild using molar morphological measures determined to discriminate dietary regimes in two extant mammalian guilds. The degree of dietary niche separation among taxa was then evaluated across a series of fossil samples from the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming just prior to, during, and after euprimate origination. Statistical overlap between each pair of euprimate and non-euprimate dietary niches was determined using modified multivariate pairwise comparisons using distances in a multidimensional principal component "niche" space. Results indicate that euprimate origination and diversification in North America was generally characterized by the absence of dietary competition. This lack of competition with non-euprimates is consistent with an increase in the abundance and diversity of euprimates during the early Eocene, signifying that the "success" of euprimates may not be the result of direct biotic interactions between euprimates and other mammals. An examination of the euprimate dietary niche itself determined that adapids and omomyids occupied distinct niches and did not engage in dietary competition during the early Eocene. Furthermore, changes in euprimate dietary niche size over time parallel major climatic shifts. Reconstructing how both biotic and abiotic mechanisms affected Eocene euprimates has the potential to enhance our understanding of these influences on modern primate communities. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Anthropology 2014

The jaw adductor muscles in strepsirrhines were dissected and their fiber architecture was quantified. Bite force and leverage were estimated using values for physiological cross-sectional area (PCSA) of the jaw adductors and lateral photographs of skulls. Jaw adductor mass, PCSA, fiber length, and bite force scale isometrically to body size. An experiment carried out at the Duke Lemur Center demonstrated that ingested food size also scales isometrically to body size. Folivorous strepsirrhines are characterized by short jaw adductor fibers, uniformly small ingested food size, large masseter and medial pterygoid muscles (in PCSA and mass), and large estimated bite force for their jaw length. Large-bodied folivores have especially large jaw adductors. Small-bodied folivores have especially short jaws, but do not have especially large jaw adductors. Folivores probably can generate large bite forces; they possess short jaws (short bite load arms) and/or large jaw adductor cross-sectional areas. Frugivorous strepsirrhines are characterized by long jaws, large (but variable) ingested food size, large temporalis muscles, and small estimated bite force for their jaw length. Frugivores have long jaw adductor fibers that likely maintain tension during the ingestion of large objects (e.g., fruits). The temporalis is large in frugivores, not because it has superior leverage during incision, but because its fibers likely do not stretch as much at wide gapes as those of the other adductors. Correlations between osteological landmarks and jaw adductor dimensions in strepsirrhines were used to infer jaw adductor dimensions in <em>Adapis parisiensis</em> and <em>Leptadapis magnus</em> (Adapinae) from the Eocene of Europe. Inferred PCSA and lateral photographs were used to estimate bite force and leverage in these adapines. An analysis of shearing quotients was also performed. Inferred jaw adductor mass, PCSA, bite force, and shearing quotients are great in adapines relative to extant strepsirrhines. All anatomical signals suggest a diet rich in tough leaves and other structural plant parts, perhaps with some small fruits. <em>Adapis</em> was likely more folivorous than <em>Leptadapis</em>. / Dissertation