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Jonathan Perry, PhD

Jonathan Perry, PhD

Site Dean, Associate Professor

College of Health Sciences

jperry@westernu.edu

Phone: 541-259-0474

Join year: 2021

  • Education
    • Degree: Postdoctoral
      Institution: Stony Brook University
      Major/Field of Study: Anatomical Sciences
      Dates: 2007-2008
    • Degree: Doctor of Philosophy
      Institution: Duke University
      Major/Field of Study: Biological Anthropology and Anatomy
      Date Awarded: 2008
    • Degree: Master of Science
      Institution: University of Alberta
      Major/Field of Study: Systematics and Evolution
      Date Awarded: 2001
    • Degree: Bachelor of Science
      Institution: University of Alberta
      Major/Field of Study: Paleontology
      Date Awarded: 1998
  • Publications

    • Perry JMG and Canington SL. Chapter 8: Primate Evolution. In Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology, Second Edition, BAS Shook, KA Nelson, K Aguilera, and LR Braff (eds). In press.
    • Perry JMG, Dutchak AR, Theodor JM. New primates from the Eocene of Saskatchewan: revision of the primates from the Cypress Hills Formation with description of new taxa. Palaeontologia Electronica. 2023. https://doi.org/10.26879/1246
    • Deutsch AR, Dickinson E, Whichard VA, Lagomarsino GR, Perry JMG, Kupczik K, Hartstone-Rose A. Primate body mass and dietary correlates of tooth root surface area. American Journal of Biological Anthropology. 2022;177:4-26.
    • Rose KD, Perry JMG, Prufrock KA, Weems RE. Early Eocene omomyid from the Nanjemoy Formation of Virginia: First fossil primate from the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 2021;41:1-10.
    • Kay RF, Perry JMG. New primates from the Río Santa Cruz and Río Bote (Early-Mid Miocene), Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. Publicacíon Electrónica de la Asociación Paleontológica Argentina. 2019;19:230-238.
    • Raigemborn MS, Krapovickas V, Zucol AF, Zapata L, Beilinson E, Toledo N, Perry JMG, Lizzoli S, Martegani L, Passeggi E. Paleosols and related soil-biota of the early Miocene Santa Cruz Formation (Austral-Magallanes Basin, Argentina): a multidisciplinary approach to reconstructing ancient terrestrial landscapes. Latin American Journal of Sedimentology and Basin Analysis. 2019;25:117-148.
    • Rose KD, Dunn RH, Kumar K, Perry JMG, Prufrock KA, Rana RS, Smith T. New fossils from Tadkeshwar Mine (Gujarat, India) increase primate diversity from the Early Eocene Cambay Shale. Journal of Human Evolution. 2019;122:93-107.
    • Fricano EEI, Perry JMG. Maximum bony gape in primates. The Anatomical Record. 2019;302:215-225.
    • Perry JMG, Cooke SB, Runestad-Connour JA, Burgess ML, Ruff CB. Articular scaling and body mass estimation in platyrrhines and catarrhines: modern variation and application to fossil anthropoids. Journal of Human Evolution. 2018;115:20-35.
    • Ledogar JA, Luk THY, Perry JMG, Neaux D, Wroe S. Biting mechanics and niche separation in a specialized clade of primate seed predators. PLOS ONE. 2018; 13:e0190689 (26pp.).
    • Perry JMG. Inferring the diets of extinct giant lemurs from osteological correlates of muscle dimensions. The Anatomical Record. 2018;301:343-362.
    • Fabre A-C, Perry JMG, Lowie A, Hartstone-Rose A, Boens A, Dumont M. Do muscles constrain skull shape evolution in strepsirrhines? The Anatomical Record. 2018;301:291-310.
    • St Clair EM, Reback N, Perry JMG. Craniomandibular variation in phalangeriform marsupials: functional comparisons with primates. The Anatomical Record. 2018;301:227-255.
    • Perry JMG and Canington SL. Chapter 8: Primate Evolution. In Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology, First Edition, BAS Shook, KA Nelson, K Aguilera, and LR Braff (eds). 2018.
    • Seiffert ER, Boyer DM, Fleagle JG, Gunnell GF, Heesy CP, Perry JMG, Sallam HM. New adapiform fossils from the late Eocene of Egypt. Historical Biology. 2018;30:204-226.
    • Perry JMG, Gunnell GF, Emry RJ. New cranial material of Notharctus (Mammalia, Primates, Notharctidae) from the Sheep Pass Formation, Elderberry Canyon, Nevada with implications for incisor morphology and paleogeography of notharctine primates. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 2017;37:e1331914 (10pp.).
    • Perry JMG, St Clair EM, Hartstone-Rose A. Craniomandibular signals of diet in adapids. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 2015;158:646-662.
    • Perry JMG, Bastian ML, St Clair EM, Hartstone-Rose A. Maximum ingested food size in captive anthropoids. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 2015;158:92-104.
    • Hartstone-Rose A, Criste T, Parkinson J, Perry JMG. Brief Communication: Comparing apples and oranges – the influence of food mechanical properties on ingestive bite sizes in lemurs. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 2015;157:513-518.
    • Perry JMG, Kay RF, Vizcaíno SF, Bargo, MS. Oldest known cranium of a juvenile New World monkey (Early Miocene, Patagonia, Argentina): implications for the taxonomy and the molar eruption pattern of early platyrrhines. Journal of Human Evolution. 2014;74:67-81.
    • Perry JMG, MacNeill KE, Heckler AL, Rakotoarisoa G, Hartstone-Rose A. Anatomy and adaptations of the chewing muscles in Daubentonia (Lemuriformes). The Anatomical Record. 2014;97:308-316.
    • Baab KL, Perry JMG, Rohlf FJ, Jungers WL. Phylogenetic, ecological, and allometric correlates of cranial shape in Malagasy lemuriforms. Evolution. 2014;68:1450-1468.
    • Jones KE, Rose KD, Perry JMG. Body size and premolar evolution in the Early-Middle Eocene euprimates of Wyoming. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 2014;153:15-28.
    • Kay RF, Perry JMG, Malinzak M, Allen KL, Kirk EC, Plavcan JM, Fleagle JG. Paleobiology of Santacrucian primates. In Early Miocene Paleobiology in Patagonia: High-Latitude Paleocommunities of the Santa Cruz Formation, SF Vizcaíno, RF Kay, and MS Bargo (eds). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2012;Pp. 306-330.
    • Hartstone-Rose A, Perry JMG, and Morrow CJ. Bite force estimation and the fiber architecture of felid masticatory muscles. The Anatomical Record. 2012;295:1336-1351.
    • Perry JMG, Hartstone-Rose A, and Logan RL. The jaw adductor resultant and estimated bite force in primates. Anatomy Research International 2011; Article ID 929848, 11 pages. doi:10.1155/2011/929848
    • Muchlinski MN and Perry JMG. Anatomical correlates to nectar-feeding among the strepsirrhines of Madagascar: implications for interpreting the fossil record. Anatomy Research International 2011; Article ID 378431, 17 pages. doi:10.1155/2011/378431.
    • Hartstone-Rose A and Perry JMG. Intraspecific variation in maximum ingested food size and body mass in Varecia rubra and Propithecus coquereli. Anatomy Research International 2011; Article ID 831943, 8 pages. doi:10.1155/2011/831943.
    • Perry JMG, Hartstone-Rose A, and Wall CE. The jaw adductors of strepsirrhines in relation to body size, diet, and ingested food size. The Anatomical Record. 2011;294:712-728.
    • Perry JMG. Book Review: The Smallest Anthropoids: The Marmoset / Callimico Radiation. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 2011;144:501-502.
    • Perry JMG, Kay RF, Vizcaíno SF, and Bargo MS. Tooth root size, chewing muscle leverage, and the biology of Homunculus patagonicus (Primates) from the late early Miocene of Patagonia. Ameghiniana. 2010;47:355-371.
    • Vizcaíno SF, Bargo MS, Kay RF, Fariña RA, DiGiacomo M, Perry JMG, Prevosti FJ, Toledo N, Cassini GH, and Fernicola JC. A baseline paleoecological study for the Santa Cruz Formation (late–early Miocene) at the Atlantic coast of Patagonia, Argentina. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 2010;292:507-519.
    • Perry JMG and Hartstone-Rose A. Maximum ingested food size in captive strepsirrhine primates: scaling and the effects of diet. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 2010;142:625-635.
    • Seiffert ER, Simons EL, Boyer DM, Perry JMG, Ryan TM, and Sallam HM. A peculiar primate of uncertain affinities from the earliest late Eocene of Egypt. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2010;107:9712-9717.
    • Seiffert ER, Perry JMG, Simons EL, and Boyer DM. Convergent evolution of anthropoid-like adaptations in Eocene adapiform primates. Nature. 2009;461:1118- 1121.
    • Perry JMG and Wall CE. Scaling of the chewing muscles in prosimians. In Primate Craniofacial Function and Biology, CJ Vinyard, MJ Ravosa, and CE Wall (eds). New York: Springer. 2008;Pp. 217-240.
    • Perry JMG. The Anatomy of Mastication in Extant Strepsirrhines and Eocene Adapines. Ph.D. Dissertation, Duke University. 2008;490p.
    • Kay RF, Vizcaíno SF, Bargo MS, Perry JMG, Prevosti F, and Fernicola JC. Two new fossil vertebrate localities in the Santa Cruz Formation (late early Miocene, Argentina), 51° South latitude. Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 2008;25: 187-195.
    • Kay RF, Schmitt D, Vinyard CJ, Perry JMG, Shigehara N, Takai M, and Naoko E. The paleobiology of Amphipithecidae, South Asian late Eocene primates. Journal of Human Evolution. 2004; 46:3-25.
    • Perry JMG (2001) Breakdown of Food by Early Fossil Primates: Assessed with the Aid of a Machine that Simulates Mastication. M.Sc. Thesis, University of Alberta. 2001;217p.
  • Narrative

    The Perry Lab at Western University focuses on primate evolution with a particular emphasis on the interplay between chewing apparatus and diet. By studying the gross anatomy and fiber architecture of jaw-closing muscles, the lab seeks to understand how muscle dimensions correlate with body size and diet among primates and other mammals. Paleontological field studies in the Americas provide insights into the historical context of primate evolution and responses of primates to ecological crises. The lab also conducts experimental research on the biomechanics of the primate skull, examining leverage and excursion in the chewing system. Additionally, they explore ecological changes in mammalian communities during significant climatic events and assess the material properties of food through experimentation that includes simulated food breakage by primate molars. This multifaceted approach makes meaningful contributions to our understanding of primate paleobiology.