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Calcar femorale variation in extant and fossil hominids: Implications for identifying bipedal locomotion in fossil hominins. J Hum Evol 2022; 167:103183. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103183] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2021] [Revised: 03/04/2022] [Accepted: 03/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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2
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Van Handel AC, Lynch LM, Daruwalla JH, Higgins JP, Allen KL, Pet MA. Medial femoral trochlea flap reconstruction versus proximal row carpectomy for Kienböck's disease: a morphometric comparison. J Hand Surg Eur Vol 2021; 46:1042-1048. [PMID: 34289733 DOI: 10.1177/17531934211031862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Surgical options for advanced Kienböck's disease include proximal row carpectomy or lunate reconstruction with a medial femoral trochlea osteochondral flap. This study compares morphology of the proximal capitate and the medial femoral trochlear surfaces to the proximal lunate using three-dimensional geometric morphometric analysis. Virtual articular surfaces were extracted from MRI studies of ten healthy volunteers. Distances between corresponding points on the proximal lunate and proximal capitate or medial femoral trochlear surfaces were measured. In seven subjects, mean inter-surface distance for the medial femoral trochlea-proximal lunate pair was significantly lower than the proximal capitate-proximal lunate pairing. In three subjects, mean proximal capitate-proximal lunate distance was significantly lower. We conclude that the medial femoral trochlear flap was anatomically closer to the shape of the proximal lunate in the majority of the examined subjects. However, we found that in three out of ten cases, the proximal capitate was a better match.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amelia C Van Handel
- Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Leigha M Lynch
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Jimmy H Daruwalla
- Curtis National Hand Center, Medstar Union Memorial Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - James P Higgins
- Curtis National Hand Center, Medstar Union Memorial Hospital, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Kari L Allen
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Mitchell A Pet
- Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
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Gavazzi LM, Kjosness KM, Reno PL. Ossification pattern of the unusual pisiform in two-toed (Choloepus) and three-toed sloths (Bradypus). Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2021; 305:1804-1819. [PMID: 34779120 DOI: 10.1002/ar.24832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2021] [Revised: 10/14/2021] [Accepted: 10/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Two-toed (Choloepus sp.) and three-toed (Bradypus sp.) sloths possess short, rounded pisiforms that are rare among mammals and differ from other members of Xenarthra like the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) which retain elongated, rod-like pisiforms in common with most mammals. Using photographs, radiographs, and μCT, we assessed ossification patterns in the pisiform and the paralogous tarsal, the calcaneus, for two-toed sloths, three-toed sloths, and giant anteaters to determine the process by which pisiform reduction occurs in sloths and compare it to other previously studied examples of pisiform reduction in humans and orangutans. Both extant sloth genera achieve pisiform reduction through the loss of a secondary ossification center and the likely disruption of the associated growth plate based on an unusually porous subchondral surface. This represents a third unique mechanism of pisiform reduction among mammals, along with primary ossification center loss in humans and retention of two ossification centers with likely reduced growth periods in orangutans. Given the remarkable similarities between two-toed and three-toed sloth pisiform ossification patterns and the presence of pisiform reduction in fossil sloths, extant sloth pisiform morphology does not appear to represent a recent convergent adaptation to suspensory locomotion, but instead is likely to be an ancestral trait of Folivora that emerged early in the radiation of extant and fossil sloths.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lia M Gavazzi
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, USA.,Musculoskeletal Research Group, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, Ohio, USA
| | - Kelsey M Kjosness
- Department of Bio-Medical Sciences, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Philip L Reno
- Department of Bio-Medical Sciences, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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Püschel TA, Marcé-Nogué J, Chamberlain AT, Yoxall A, Sellers WI. The biomechanical importance of the scaphoid-centrale fusion during simulated knuckle-walking and its implications for human locomotor evolution. Sci Rep 2020; 10:3526. [PMID: 32103129 PMCID: PMC7044280 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-60590-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2019] [Accepted: 02/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Inferring the locomotor behaviour of the last common ancestor (LCA) of humans and African apes is still a divisive issue. An African great-ape-like ancestor using knuckle-walking is still the most parsimonious hypothesis for the LCA, despite diverse conflicting lines of evidence. Crucial to this hypothesis is the role of the centrale in the hominoid wrist, since the fusion of this bone with the scaphoid is among the clearest morphological synapomorphies of African apes and hominins. However, the exact functional significance of this fusion remains unclear. We address this question by carrying out finite element simulations of the hominoid wrist during knuckle-walking by virtually generating fused and unfused morphologies in a sample of hominoids. Finite element analysis was applied to test the hypothesis that a fused scaphoid-centrale better withstands the loads derived from knuckle-walking. The results show that fused morphologies display lower stress values, hence supporting a biomechanical explanation for the fusion as a functional adaptation for knuckle-walking. This functional interpretation for the fusion contrasts with the current inferred positional behaviour of the earliest hominins, thus suggesting that this morphology was probably retained from an LCA that exhibited knuckle-walking as part of its locomotor repertoire and that was probably later exapted for other functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas A Püschel
- Primate Models for Behavioural Evolution Lab, Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, School of Anthropology, University of Oxford, 64 Banbury Road, OX2 6PN, Oxford, United Kingdom.
| | - Jordi Marcé-Nogué
- Center of Natural History (CeNak), Universität Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, Hamburg, 20146, Germany
- Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici ICTA-ICP, c/Columnes s/n, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Andrew T Chamberlain
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, M13 9PL, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Alaster Yoxall
- Art and Design Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | - William I Sellers
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, M13 9PL, Manchester, United Kingdom
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Kivell TL, Rosas A, Estalrrich A, Huguet R, García-Tabernero A, Ríos L, de la Rasilla M. New Neandertal wrist bones from El Sidrón, Spain (1994-2009). J Hum Evol 2017; 114:45-75. [PMID: 29447761 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.09.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2017] [Revised: 09/12/2017] [Accepted: 09/13/2017] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Twenty-nine carpal bones of Homo neanderthalensis have been recovered from the site of El Sidrón (Asturias, Spain) during excavations between 1994 and 2009, alongside ∼2500 other Neandertal skeletal elements dated to ∼49,000 years ago. All bones of the wrist are represented, including adult scaphoids (n = 6), lunates (n = 2), triquetra (n = 4), pisiforms (n = 2), trapezia (n = 2), trapezoids (n = 5), capitates (n = 5), and hamates (n = 2), as well as one fragmentary and possibly juvenile scaphoid. Several of these carpals appear to belong to the complete right wrist of a single individual. Here we provide qualitative and quantitative morphological descriptions of these carpals, within a comparative context of other European and Near Eastern Neandertals, early and recent Homo sapiens, and other fossil hominins, including Homo antecessor, Homo naledi, and australopiths. Overall, the El Sidrón carpals show characteristics that typically distinguish Neandertals from H. sapiens, such as a relatively flat first metacarpal facet on the trapezium and a more laterally oriented second metacarpal facet on the capitate. However, there are some distinctive features of the El Sidrón carpals compared with most other Neandertals. For example, the tubercle of the trapezium is small with limited projection, while the scaphoid tubercle and hamate hamulus are among the largest seen in other Neandertals. Furthermore, three of the six adult scaphoids show a distinctive os-centrale portion, while another is a bipartite scaphoid with a truncated tubercle. The high frequency of rare carpal morphologies supports other evidence of a close genetic relationship among the Neandertals found at El Sidrón.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tracy L Kivell
- Animal Postcranial Evolution (APE) Lab, Skeletal Biology Research Centre, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK; Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Antonio Rosas
- Paleoanthropology Group, Department of Paleobiology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN)-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Almudena Estalrrich
- Paleoanthropology Group, Department of Paleobiology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN)-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain; Department of Paleoanthropology, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Rosa Huguet
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social-Unidad Asociada al CSIC, Tarragona, Spain
| | - Antonio García-Tabernero
- Paleoanthropology Group, Department of Paleobiology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN)-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Luis Ríos
- Paleoanthropology Group, Department of Paleobiology, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN)-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Marco de la Rasilla
- Área de Prehistoria Departamento de Historia, Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain
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Orr CM. Locomotor Hand Postures, Carpal Kinematics During Wrist Extension, and Associated Morphology in Anthropoid Primates. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2016; 300:382-401. [DOI: 10.1002/ar.23507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2015] [Revised: 06/13/2016] [Accepted: 07/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Caley M. Orr
- Department of Cell and Developmental BiologyUniversity of Colorado School of MedicineMail Stop F435, 13001 East 17th PlaceAurora Colorado
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Functional Morphology of the Primate Hand: Recent Approaches Using Biomedical Imaging, Computer Modeling, and Engineering Methods. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-3646-5_9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/09/2023]
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Ogihara N, Almécija S, Nakatsukasa M, Nakano Y, Kikuchi Y, Kunimatsu Y, Makishima H, Shimizu D, Takano T, Tsujikawa H, Kagaya M, Ishida H. Carpal bones ofNacholapithecus kerioi, a Middle Miocene Hominoid From Northern Kenya. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2016; 160:469-82. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22984] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2015] [Revised: 02/24/2016] [Accepted: 02/26/2016] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Naomichi Ogihara
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology; Keio University; Yokohama 223-8522 Japan
| | - Sergio Almécija
- Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology; the George Washington University; Washington DC 20052
- Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Edifici ICTA-ICP, Carrer de les Columnes sense número; Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès Barcelona Spain
| | - Masato Nakatsukasa
- Laboratory of Physical Anthropology, Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science; Kyoto University; Kyoto 606-8502 Japan
| | - Yoshihiko Nakano
- Laboratory of Biological Anthropology, Graduate School of Human Sciences; Osaka University; Osaka 565-0871 Japan
| | - Yasuhiro Kikuchi
- Department of Anatomy and Physiology, Faculty of Medicine; Saga University; Saga 840-8501 Japan
| | - Yutaka Kunimatsu
- Faculty of Business Administration; Ryukoku University; Kyoto 612-8577 Japan
| | - Haruyuki Makishima
- Laboratory of Physical Anthropology, Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science; Kyoto University; Kyoto 606-8502 Japan
| | - Daisuke Shimizu
- Laboratory of Physical Anthropology, Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science; Kyoto University; Kyoto 606-8502 Japan
| | | | - Hiroshi Tsujikawa
- Department of Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medical Science and Welfare; Tohoku Bunka Gakuen University; Sendai 981-8551 Japan
| | - Miyuki Kagaya
- Faculty of Medicine; Hiroshima University; Hiroshima 734-8553 Japan
| | - Hidemi Ishida
- Laboratory of Physical Anthropology, Department of Zoology, Graduate School of Science; Kyoto University; Kyoto 606-8502 Japan
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Richmond BG, Roach NT, Ostrofsky KR. Evolution of the Early Hominin Hand. DEVELOPMENTS IN PRIMATOLOGY: PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-3646-5_18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
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11
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12
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Alba DM, Almecija S, DeMiguel D, Fortuny J, de los Rios MP, Pina M, Robles JM, Moya-Sola S. Miocene small-bodied ape from Eurasia sheds light on hominoid evolution. Science 2015; 350:aab2625. [DOI: 10.1126/science.aab2625] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2015] [Accepted: 09/21/2015] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
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Drapeau MSM. Metacarpal torsion in apes, humans, and early Australopithecus: implications for manipulatory abilities. PeerJ 2015; 3:e1311. [PMID: 26500820 PMCID: PMC4614803 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1311] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2015] [Accepted: 09/19/2015] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Human hands, when compared to that of apes, have a series of adaptations to facilitate manipulation. Numerous studies have shown that Australopithecus afarensis and Au. africanus display some of these adaptations, such as a longer thumb relative to the other fingers, asymmetric heads on the second and fifth metacarpals, and orientation of the second metacarpal joints with the trapezium and capitate away from the sagittal plane, while lacking others such as a very mobile fifth metacarpal, a styloid process on the third, and a flatter metacarpo-trapezium articulation, suggesting some adaptation to manipulation but more limited than in humans. This paper explores variation in metacarpal torsion, a trait said to enhance manipulation, in humans, apes, early australopithecines and specimens from Swartkrans. This study shows that humans are different from large apes in torsion of the third and fourth metacarpals. Humans are also characterized by wedge-shaped bases of the third and fourth metacarpals, making the metacarpal-base row very arched mediolaterally and placing the ulnar-most metacarpals in a position that facilitate opposition to the thumb in power or cradle grips. The third and fourth metacarpals of Au. afarensis are very human-like, suggesting that the medial palm was already well adapted for these kinds of grips in that taxon. Au. africanus present a less clear human-like morphology, suggesting, perhaps, that the medial palm was less suited to human-like manipulation in that taxa than in Au. afarensis. Overall, this study supports previous studies on Au. afarensis and Au. africanus that these taxa had derived hand morphology with some adaptation to human-like power and precision grips and support the hypothesis that dexterous hands largely predated Homo.
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Sukselainen L, Fortelius M, Harrison T. Co-occurrence of pliopithecoid and hominoid primates in the fossil record: An ecometric analysis. J Hum Evol 2015; 84:25-41. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.04.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2014] [Revised: 04/14/2015] [Accepted: 04/21/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Schilling AM, Tofanelli S, Hublin JJ, Kivell TL. Trabecular bone structure in the primate wrist. J Morphol 2013; 275:572-85. [PMID: 24323904 DOI: 10.1002/jmor.20238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2013] [Revised: 10/28/2013] [Accepted: 11/01/2013] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Trabecular (or cancellous) bone has been shown to respond to mechanical loading throughout ontogeny and thus can provide unique insight into skeletal function and locomotion in comparative studies of living and fossil mammalian morphology. Trabecular bone of the hand may be particularly functionally informative because the hand has more direct contact with the substrate compared with the remainder of the forelimb during locomotion in quadrupedal mammals. This study investigates the trabecular structure within the wrist across a sample of haplorhine primates that vary in locomotor behaviour (and thus hand use) and body size. High-resolution microtomographic scans were collected of the lunate, scaphoid, and capitate in 41 individuals and eight genera (Homo, Gorilla, Pan, Papio, Pongo, Symphalangus, Hylobates, and Ateles). We predicted that particular trabecular parameters would 1) vary across suspensory, quadrupedal, and bipedal primates based on differences in hand use and load, and 2) scale with carpal size following similar allometric patterns found previously in other skeletal elements across a larger sample of mammals and primates. Analyses of variance (trabecular parameters analysed separately) and principal component analyses (trabecular parameters analysed together) revealed no clear functional signal in the trabecular structure of any of the three wrist bones. Instead, there was a large degree of variation within suspensory and quadrupedal locomotor groups, as well as high intrageneric variation within some taxa, particularly Pongo and Gorilla. However, as predicted, Homo sapiens, which rarely use their hands for locomotion and weight support, were unique in showing lower relative bone volume (BV/TV) compared with all other taxa. Furthermore, parameters used to quantify trabecular structure within the wrist scale with size generally following similar allometric patterns found in trabeculae of other mammalian skeletal elements. We discuss the challenges associated with quantifying and interpreting trabecular bone within the wrist.
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Kivell TL, Barros AP, Smaers JB. Different evolutionary pathways underlie the morphology of wrist bones in hominoids. BMC Evol Biol 2013; 13:229. [PMID: 24148262 PMCID: PMC4015765 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-13-229] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2013] [Accepted: 10/11/2013] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The hominoid wrist has been a focus of numerous morphological analyses that aim to better understand long-standing questions about the evolution of human and hominoid hand use. However, these same analyses also suggest various scenarios of complex and mosaic patterns of morphological evolution within the wrist and potentially multiple instances of homoplasy that would benefit from require formal analysis within a phylogenetic context.We identify morphological features that principally characterize primate - and, in particular, hominoid (apes, including humans) - wrist evolution and reveal the rate, process and evolutionary timing of patterns of morphological change on individual branches of the primate tree of life. Linear morphological variables of five wrist bones - the scaphoid, lunate, triquetrum, capitate and hamate - are analyzed in a diverse sample of extant hominoids (12 species, 332 specimens), Old World (8 species, 43 specimens) and New World (4 species, 26 specimens) monkeys, fossil Miocene apes (8 species, 20 specimens) and Plio-Pleistocene hominins (8 species, 18 specimens). RESULT Results reveal a combination of parallel and synapomorphic morphology within haplorrhines, and especially within hominoids, across individual wrist bones. Similar morphology of some wrist bones reflects locomotor behaviour shared between clades (scaphoid, triquetrum and capitate) while others (lunate and hamate) indicate clade-specific synapomorphic morphology. Overall, hominoids show increased variation in wrist bone morphology compared with other primate clades, supporting previous analyses, and demonstrate several occurrences of parallel evolution, particularly between orangutans and hylobatids, and among hominines (extant African apes, humans and fossil hominins). CONCLUSIONS Our analyses indicate that different evolutionary processes can underlie the evolution of a single anatomical unit (the wrist) to produce diversity in functional and morphological adaptations across individual wrist bones. These results exemplify a degree of evolutionary and functional independence across different wrist bones, the potential evolvability of skeletal morphology, and help to contextualize the postcranial mosaicism observed in the hominin fossil record.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tracy L Kivell
- School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Anna P Barros
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Jeroen B Smaers
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK
- Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, USA
- Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, UK
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Middle Miocene Pierolapithecus provides a first glimpse into early hominid pelvic morphology. J Hum Evol 2013; 64:658-66. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.03.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2012] [Revised: 03/03/2013] [Accepted: 03/05/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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18
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Almécija S, Alba DM, Moyà-Solà S. The thumb of Miocene apes: new insights from Castell de Barberà (Catalonia, Spain). AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2012; 148:436-50. [PMID: 22552874 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2011] [Accepted: 03/09/2012] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Primate hands display a major selective compromise between locomotion and manipulation. The thumb may or may not participate in locomotion, but it plays a central role in most manipulative activities. Understanding whether or not the last common ancestor of humans and Pan displayed extant-ape-like hand proportions (i.e., relatively long fingers and a short thumb) can be clarified by the analysis of Miocene ape hand remains. Here we describe new pollical remains-a complete proximal phalanx and a partial distal phalanx-from the middle/late Miocene site of Castell de Barberà (ca., 11.2-10.5 Ma, Vallès-Penedès Basin), and provide morphometric and qualitative comparisons with other available Miocene specimens as well as extant catarrhines (including humans). Our results show that all available Miocene taxa (Proconsul, Nacholapithecus, Afropithecus, Sivapithecus, Hispanopithecus, Oreopithecus, and the hominoid from Castell de Barberà) share a similar phalangeal thumb morphology: the phalanges are relatively long, and the proximal phalanges have a high degree of curvature, marked insertions for the flexor muscles, a palmarly bent trochlea and a low basal height. All these features suggest that these Miocene apes used their thumb with an emphasis on flexion, most of them to powerfully assist the fingers during above-branch, grasping arboreal locomotion. Moreover, in terms of relative proximal phalangeal length, the thumb of Miocene taxa is intermediate between the long-thumbed humans and the short-thumbed extant apes. Together with previous evidence, this suggests that a moderate-length hand with relatively long thumb-involved in locomotion-is the original hand morphotype for the Hominidae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sergio Almécija
- Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History and NYCEP, New York, NY 10024, USA.
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Knuckle-walking in Sivapithecus? The combined effects of homology and homoplasy with possible implications for pongine dispersals. J Hum Evol 2011; 60:158-70. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.10.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2009] [Revised: 09/08/2010] [Accepted: 07/12/2010] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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