Palm fruit colours are linked to the broad-scale distribution and diversification of primate colour vision systems

A long-standing hypothesis in ecology and evolution is that trichromatic colour vision (the ability to distinguish red from green) in frugivorous primates has evolved as an adaptation to detect conspicuous (reddish) fruits. This could provide a competitive advantage over dichromatic frugivores which cannot distinguish reddish colours from a background of green foliage. Here, we test whether the origin, distribution and diversity of trichromatic primates is positively associated with the availability of conspicuous palm fruits, i.e. keystone fruit resources for tropical frugivores. We combine global data of colour vision, distribution and phylogenetic data for more than 400 primate species with fruit colour data for more than 1700 palm species, and reveal that species richness of trichromatic primates increases with the proportion of palm species that have conspicuous fruits, especially in subtropical African forests. By contrast, species richness of trichromats in Asia and the Americas ...

生态学与进化领域存在一个长期假说：食果灵长类的三色视觉（trichromatic colour vision，即区分红色与绿色的能力）是为适应检测显眼（偏红色）果实而进化的。这可能使其相较于二色视觉食果动物具有竞争优势——后者无法从绿色叶丛背景中区分红色。在此，我们测试了三色灵长类的起源、分布与多样性是否与显眼棕榈果实（即热带食果动物的关键果实资源）的可获得性呈正相关。我们整合了全球400余种灵长类的色觉、分布及系统发育数据，以及1700余种棕榈的果实颜色数据，结果显示：三色灵长类的物种丰富度随产出显眼果实的棕榈物种比例升高而增加，这一趋势在非洲亚热带森林中尤为显著。相比之下，亚洲与美洲的三色灵长类物种丰富度...