霊長類の目の色の違いの原因を解明するNUSの研究(NUS study addresses the causes of eye colour variation in primates)

この多様性の一因は、生息地の照明の違いにあることが判明。 Scientists discover that this diversity is partly due to lighting differences in their habitats

2022-10-15 シンガポール国立大学(NUS)

<関連情報>

• https://news.nus.edu.sg/nus-study-addresses-the-causes-of-eye-colour-variation-in-primates/
• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-20900-6

霊長類における目の形と色調の変化には、生態的な要因が関与している可能性が高い Ecological factors are likely drivers of eye shape and colour pattern variations across anthropoid primates

Juan Olvido Perea-García,Kokulanantha Ramarajan,Mariska E. Kret,Catherine Hobaiter & Antónia Monteiro
Scientific Reports  Published:15 October 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-20900-6

Abstract

External eye appearance across primate species is diverse in shape and colouration, yet we still lack an explanation for the drivers of such diversity. Here we quantify substantial interspecific variation in eye shape and colouration across 77 primate species representing all extant genera of anthropoid primates. We reassess a series of hypotheses aiming to explain ocular variation in horizontal elongation and in colouration across species. Heavier body weight and terrestrial locomotion are associated with elongated eye outlines. Species living closer to the equator present more pigmented conjunctivae, suggesting photoprotective functions. Irises become bluer in species living further away from the equator, adding to existing literature supporting a circadian clock function for bluer irises. These results shift the current focus from communicative, to ecological factors in driving variation in external eye appearance in anthropoid primates. They also highlight the possibility that similar ecological factors contributed to selection for blue eyes in ancestral human populations living in northern latitudes.