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Francis G, Wang Q. Pterion variation in the skulls of rhesus macaques from Cayo Santiago: Inheritance, development, and pathology. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2024; 307:3139-3151. [PMID: 38396323 PMCID: PMC11296927 DOI: 10.1002/ar.25417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2023] [Revised: 01/18/2024] [Accepted: 02/09/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024]
Abstract
The pterion is the sutural juncture of the frontal, parietal, sphenoidal, temporal, and zygomatic bones on the lateral aspect of the cranium. As a craniometric landmark, the pterion has a taxonomic valence, in addition to a common neurosurgical entry point in medicine. Variation in the articulation patterns at the pterion have been documented between primate species yet have a high degree of uniformity within species, suggesting a genetic control for this complex region of the skull. In this study, pterion pattern variation was investigated in 1627 Rhesus macaque crania of the Cayo Santiago colony. The colony's associated skeletal collections accompany known age, sex, and maternal lineages. Pterion pattern prevalence rates were tested against matrilines, as well as cranial shape, and cranial sutural fusion ages (including individuals with prematurely fused sutures). Five patterns were identified, the most prominent being the prevailing Old World Monkey frontotemporal (FT) articulation (83.4%). The relative frequency of those not exhibiting the FT pattern was found to vary considerably between matrilineal families (p = 0.037), ranging from 5.3% to 34.2%. Mothers with the non-FT pterion pattern were three times as likely to bear non-FT offspring. Cranial shape additionally varied with pterion type. Males exhibiting zygomaticotemporal (ZT) and sphenoparietal (SP) articulations possessed a relatively longer and narrower cranium than those with the default FT type (p = < 0.001). Cranial sutural fusion ages were not found to differ between pterion types, though all individuals with craniosynostosis (6; 0.38%) exhibited the FT type. The study provided strong evidence for a genetic source for pterion pattern as well as outlining a relatively novel relationship with cranial shape and sutural fusion ages. A unifying explanation may lie in those genes involved in both sutural and craniofacial development, or in the variation of brain growth processes channeling sutural articulation at the pterion. Both may be heritable and responsible for producing observed matrilineal differences in the pterion.
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Affiliation(s)
- George Francis
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University School of Dentistry, Dallas, Texas, USA
| | - Qian Wang
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University School of Dentistry, Dallas, Texas, USA
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Urciuoli A, Zanolli C, Beaudet A, Pina M, Almécija S, Moyà-Solà S, Alba DM. A comparative analysis of the vestibular apparatus in Epipliopithecus vindobonensis: Phylogenetic implications. J Hum Evol 2021; 151:102930. [PMID: 33422741 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102930] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2020] [Revised: 12/06/2020] [Accepted: 12/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Pliopithecoids are an extinct group of catarrhine primates from the Miocene of Eurasia. More than 50 years ago, they were linked to hylobatids due to some morphological similarities, but most subsequent studies have supported a stem catarrhine status, due to the retention of multiple plesiomorphic features (e.g., the ectotympanic morphology) relative to crown catarrhines. More recently, some morphological similarities to hominoids have been noted, raising the question of whether they could be stem members of this clade. To re-evaluate these competing hypotheses, we examine the morphology of the semicircular canals of the bony labyrinth of the middle Miocene pliopithecid Epipliopithecus vindobonensis. The semicircular canals are suitable to test between these hypotheses because (1) they have been shown to embed strong phylogenetic signal and reliably discriminate among major clades; (2) several potential hominoid synapomorphies have been identified previously in the semicircular canals; and (3) semicircular canal morphology has not been previously described for any pliopithecoid. We use a deformation-based (landmark-free) three-dimensional geometric morphometric approach to compare Epipliopithecus with a broad primate sample of extant and extinct anthropoids. We quantify similarities in semicircular canal morphology using multivariate analyses, reconstruct ancestral morphotypes by means of a phylomorphospace approach, and identify catarrhine and hominoid synapomorphies based on discrete characters. Epipliopithecus semicircular canal morphology most closely resembles that of platyrrhines and Aegyptopithecus due to the retention of multiple anthropoid symplesiomorphies. However, Epipliopithecus is most parsimoniously interpreted as a stem catarrhine more derived than Aegyptopithecus due to the possession of a crown catarrhine synapomorphy (i.e., the rounded anterior canal), combined with the lack of other catarrhine and any hominoid synapomorphies. Some similarities with hylobatids and atelids are interpreted as homoplasies likely related to positional behavior. The semicircular canal morphology of Epipliopithecus thus supports the common view that pliopithecoids are stem catarrhines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Urciuoli
- Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici ICTA-ICP, c/ Columnes s/n, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Clément Zanolli
- Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, MCC, PACEA, UMR 5199, F-33600, Pessac, France
| | - Amélie Beaudet
- Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici ICTA-ICP, c/ Columnes s/n, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain; School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Johannesburg, WITS 2050, South Africa; Department of Anatomy, University of Pretoria, PO Box 2034, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa
| | - Marta Pina
- Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici ICTA-ICP, c/ Columnes s/n, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain; School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Manchester, 176 Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
| | - Sergio Almécija
- Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79(th) Street, New York, NY 10024, USA; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY, USA; Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici ICTA-ICP, c/ Columnes s/n, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Salvador Moyà-Solà
- Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici ICTA-ICP, c/ Columnes s/n, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Passeig de Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain; Unitat d'Antropologia (Departament de Biologia Animal, Biologia Vegetal i Ecologia), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Campus de la UAB s/n, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
| | - David M Alba
- Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici ICTA-ICP, c/ Columnes s/n, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
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Jaeger JJ, Chavasseau O, Lazzari V, Naing Soe A, Sein C, Le Maître A, Shwe H, Chaimanee Y. New Eocene primate from Myanmar shares dental characters with African Eocene crown anthropoids. Nat Commun 2019; 10:3531. [PMID: 31388005 PMCID: PMC6684601 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11295-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2018] [Accepted: 07/02/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent discoveries of older and phylogenetically more primitive basal anthropoids in China and Myanmar, the eosimiiforms, support the hypothesis that Asia was the place of origins of anthropoids, rather than Africa. Similar taxa of eosimiiforms have been discovered in the late middle Eocene of Myanmar and North Africa, reflecting a colonization event that occurred during the middle Eocene. However, these eosimiiforms were probably not the closest ancestors of the African crown anthropoids. Here we describe a new primate from the middle Eocene of Myanmar that documents a new clade of Asian anthropoids. It possesses several dental characters found only among the African crown anthropoids and their nearest relatives, indicating that several of these characters have appeared within Asian clades before being recorded in Africa. This reinforces the hypothesis that the African colonization of anthropoids was the result of several dispersal events, and that it involved more derived taxa than eosimiiforms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Jacques Jaeger
- Laboratory PALEVOPRIM, UMR CNRS 7262, University of Poitiers, 6 rue Michel Brunet Cedex 9, 86073, Poitiers, France.
| | - Olivier Chavasseau
- Laboratory PALEVOPRIM, UMR CNRS 7262, University of Poitiers, 6 rue Michel Brunet Cedex 9, 86073, Poitiers, France
| | - Vincent Lazzari
- Laboratory PALEVOPRIM, UMR CNRS 7262, University of Poitiers, 6 rue Michel Brunet Cedex 9, 86073, Poitiers, France
| | - Aung Naing Soe
- University of Distance Education, Mandalay, 05023, Myanmar
| | - Chit Sein
- Ministry of Education, Department of Higher Education, Naypyitaw, 15011, Myanmar
| | - Anne Le Maître
- Laboratory PALEVOPRIM, UMR CNRS 7262, University of Poitiers, 6 rue Michel Brunet Cedex 9, 86073, Poitiers, France.,Department of Theoretical Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Hla Shwe
- Department of Archaeology and National Museum, Mandalay Branch, Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture, Mandalay, 05011, Myanmar
| | - Yaowalak Chaimanee
- Laboratory PALEVOPRIM, UMR CNRS 7262, University of Poitiers, 6 rue Michel Brunet Cedex 9, 86073, Poitiers, France
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Halenar LB, Cooke SB, Rosenberger AL, Rímoli R. New cranium of the endemic Caribbean platyrrhine, Antillothrix bernensis, from La Altagracia Province, Dominican Republic. J Hum Evol 2017; 106:133-153. [PMID: 28434537 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2016] [Revised: 01/28/2017] [Accepted: 02/12/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Recent paleontological collection in submerged caves in the eastern Dominican Republic has yielded new specimens of Antillothrix bernensis. Here we describe a complete cranium of an adult individual (MHD 20) and provide phenetic comparisons to other endemic Caribbean taxa and extant mainland platyrrhines using three-dimensional geometric morphometric methods (3DGM). Qualitative and quantitative comparisons support conclusions based on other recently described fossil material: Antillothrix has a dentition lacking clear dietary specialization, an elongated brain case with strong temporal lines, and a vertically oriented nuchal plane. MHD 20 shares a combination of traits with a previously published subadult specimen (MHD 01) including a deep depression at glabella, dorsoventrally elongated orbits, and a relatively large face. This shared morphology reinforces the taxonomic affinity of the two specimens, with differences between the two likely reflecting the younger ontogenetic age of MHD 01. Comparisons to the extant platyrrhines paint a complicated picture as the results of between-group principal components analyses (bgPCA) indicate that Antillothrix does not share a suite of morphological features exclusively with any one genus. Depending on which bgPC axes are visualized, and which subset of landmarks is included (i.e., only those describing the shape of the face/palate for inclusion of Xenothrix), MHD 20 is most similar in shape to the atelids, Alouatta, Lagothrix, and Brachyteles, or an otherwise "empty" region of shape space. It groups neither with Cebus nor Callicebus, two taxa that Antillothrix has been associated with in previous studies based on much less complete material. The Antillothrix cranium does not exhibit any of the derived characters classically used to diagnose or define any single clade; rather its morphology shares features with multiple platyrrhine groups. This is consistent with the interpretation that Antillothrix preserves a primitive morphology, which accords with the hypothesis positing an early arrival of platyrrhines in the Caribbean.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren B Halenar
- Department of Biology, Farmingdale State College (SUNY), 2350 Broadhollow Road, Farmingdale, NY 11735, USA; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology Morphometrics Group (NMG), USA.
| | - Siobhán B Cooke
- New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology Morphometrics Group (NMG), USA; Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1830 E Monument Street, Room 305A, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Alfred L Rosenberger
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, 2900 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11210, USA; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP), Department of Anthropology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA; Department of Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, 79th St at Central Park West, New York, NY 10024, USA
| | - Renato Rímoli
- Department of Biology, Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), Ciudad Universitária, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Museo del Hombre Dominicano, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
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