PRIMO
NYCEP Morphometrics Database

Introduction to NYCEP Morphometrics Database

PRIMO (PRImate Morphometrics Online), the NYCEP Primate Morphometric database, is a resource for researchers who use metrical (including 3D) data to study aspects of primate morphology and evolution.

 


To take full advantage of PRIMO, it is necessary to request a personal login (see below); to determine if PRIMO will be useful to you, it is possible to see its major components:
  1. download excel file information for users which lists the number of specimens in the database by genus, to give an idea of coverage; and presents lists of variables, institutions, individuals who collected data and taxa recognized; also download pdfs of Delson's examples of wear stages and terminology figure if using dental data
  2. login with username user and password primouser
  3. if desired, click Database Structure to see the layout of tables
  4. click Query Wizard to seek data
    1. choose type of data to search—scalar (e.g., caliper measures of linear distance, angles) or 3D (Microscribe landmark data); additional data, such as caliper measures of cercopithecid postcrania (added to the cranio-dental data now available) and geographical locality information, will be available in due course.
    2. subset the data by taxon, bodypart, and variable as desired; it is wisest to select bodypart before variable, in order to see only those variables relevant to the region selected
    3. click “preview data” to see the first five rows in order to confirm that the correct variables are selected. When using password primouser, this is as far as you can go. Users with a personal login can download a full excel .csv file (comma delimited text file) at this point
    4. alternatively, users with a personal login can go directly to “See results” to see the entire matrix onscreen and then download.

When using password primouser, data from only the first five specimens will be shown. To obtain full access to public data, one must request a personal login. Email Eric Delson and include your:

  1. First and last names
  2. Email address
  3. Position
  4. Department
  5. Institution
  6. Country
  7. Reason for using PRIMO.


If you utilize PRIMO data in your work, we would appreciate it if you would insert a line in your acknowledgments such as: “Some data for this project were downloaded from PRIMO, the NYCEP PRImate Morphology Online database (http://primo.nycep.org). I thank Dr. Eric Delson and colleagues for access to these data.”

We would also appreciate a copy of any publication (or other report) emailed to us at eric.delson@lehman.cuny.edu.