TY - JOUR
T1 - Carpal allometry of African apes among mammals
AU - Goldstein, Deanna M.
AU - Sylvester, Adam D.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Darrin Lunde, John Ososky, and Dr. David Hunt at the National Museum of Natural History (Washington, DC), Mark Omura at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology (Cambridge, MA), and Eleanor Hoeger, Sara Ketelsen, and Marisa Surovy at the American Museum of Natural History (New York, NY) for their assistance with data collection. We would also like to thank Greg Lin and James Reynolds at the Harvard Center for Nanoscale Systems for assistance with microCT scanning. Additionally, we thank Drs. Christopher Ruff, Biren Patel, and Habiba Chirchir for their feedback on this work, which greatly improved this manuscript. This project was supported by the Leakey Foundation.
Funding Information:
We thank Darrin Lunde, John Ososky, and Dr. David Hunt at the National Museum of Natural History (Washington, DC), Mark Omura at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology (Cambridge, MA), and Eleanor Hoeger, Sara Ketelsen, and Marisa Surovy at the American Museum of Natural History (New York, NY) for their assistance with data collection. We would also like to thank Greg Lin and James Reynolds at the Harvard Center for Nanoscale Systems for assistance with microCT scanning. Additionally, we thank Drs. Christopher Ruff, Biren Patel, and Habiba Chirchir for their feedback on this work, which greatly improved this manuscript. This project was supported by the Leakey Foundation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.
PY - 2023/5
Y1 - 2023/5
N2 - Objectives: Morphological variation in African ape carpals has been used to support the idea that Pan and Gorilla evolved knuckle-walking independently. Little work, however, has focused on the effect of body mass on carpal morphology. Here, we compare carpal allometry in Pan and Gorilla to that of other quadrupedal mammals with similar body mass differences. If allometric trends in Pan and Gorilla carpals mirror those of other mammals with similar body mass variation, then body mass differences may provide a more parsimonious explanation for African ape carpal variation than the independent evolution of knuckle-walking. Materials and Methods: Three linear measurements were collected on the capitate, hamate, lunate, and scaphoid (or scapholunate) of 39 quadrupedal species from six mammalian families/subfamilies. Relationships between linear measurements and estimated body mass were analyzed using reduced major axis regression. Slopes were compared to 0.33 for isometry. Results: Within Hominidae, higher body mass taxa (Gorilla) have relatively anteroposteriorly wider, mediolaterally wider, and/or proximodistally shorter capitates, hamates, and scaphoids than low body mass taxa (Pan). These allometric relationships are mirrored in most, but not all, mammalian families/subfamilies included in the analysis. Conclusions: Within most mammalian families/subfamilies, carpals of high body mass taxa are proximodistally shorter, anteroposteriorly wider, and mediolaterally wider than those of low body mass taxa. These distinctions may be caused by the need to accommodate relatively higher forelimb loading associated with greater body mass. Because these trends occur within multiple mammalian families/subfamilies, some carpal variation in Pan and Gorilla is consistent with body mass differences.
AB - Objectives: Morphological variation in African ape carpals has been used to support the idea that Pan and Gorilla evolved knuckle-walking independently. Little work, however, has focused on the effect of body mass on carpal morphology. Here, we compare carpal allometry in Pan and Gorilla to that of other quadrupedal mammals with similar body mass differences. If allometric trends in Pan and Gorilla carpals mirror those of other mammals with similar body mass variation, then body mass differences may provide a more parsimonious explanation for African ape carpal variation than the independent evolution of knuckle-walking. Materials and Methods: Three linear measurements were collected on the capitate, hamate, lunate, and scaphoid (or scapholunate) of 39 quadrupedal species from six mammalian families/subfamilies. Relationships between linear measurements and estimated body mass were analyzed using reduced major axis regression. Slopes were compared to 0.33 for isometry. Results: Within Hominidae, higher body mass taxa (Gorilla) have relatively anteroposteriorly wider, mediolaterally wider, and/or proximodistally shorter capitates, hamates, and scaphoids than low body mass taxa (Pan). These allometric relationships are mirrored in most, but not all, mammalian families/subfamilies included in the analysis. Conclusions: Within most mammalian families/subfamilies, carpals of high body mass taxa are proximodistally shorter, anteroposteriorly wider, and mediolaterally wider than those of low body mass taxa. These distinctions may be caused by the need to accommodate relatively higher forelimb loading associated with greater body mass. Because these trends occur within multiple mammalian families/subfamilies, some carpal variation in Pan and Gorilla is consistent with body mass differences.
KW - Artiodactyla
KW - Carnivora
KW - body mass
KW - hominid evolution
KW - knuckle-walking
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U2 - 10.1002/ajpa.24716
DO - 10.1002/ajpa.24716
M3 - Article
C2 - 36808858
AN - SCOPUS:85148455595
SN - 0002-9483
VL - 181
SP - 10
EP - 28
JO - American Journal of Biological Anthropology
JF - American Journal of Biological Anthropology
IS - 1
ER -