Robert S. Corruccini

Osteometric Shape Relationships in the Wrist Joint of Some Anthropoids

Multivariate morphometric analyses of the wrist morphology of monkeys, apes and humans indicated that there is a fundamental difference between cercopithecoids and hominoids which can be related to functional and behavioral differences. The wrists of the Miocene fossil hominoids (Dryopithecus africanus and Pliopithecus vindobonensis) are almost completely monkey-like in their structure.

Morphometric analysis of platyrrhine femora with taxonomic implications and notes on two fossil forms

Abstract Postcranial elements have been relatively neglected in primate evolutionary studies, especially for platyrrhine primates. We have analyzed 38 variables of the femur in 92 specimens of fossil and extant platyrrhines to determine patterns of shape affinity for comparison with other, more traditional information. Callitrichids∗ and advanced cebids were separated along a morphological continuum bridged by the more generalized cebids (Cebus, Callicebus, Saimiri, Aotus). Callitrichids were very closely interrelated and included Callimico as an integral member. Pithecines (Pithecia, Chiropotes and Cacajao) and atelines (Ateles, Brachyteles, Lagothrix plus Alouatta) form two clusters with considerably greater intra-group variability, inferentially related to the great adaptive radiation and changes undergone by these groups. Two fossil specimens, Homunculus and Cebupithecia, are significantly divergent from all extant ceboids but are nearest callitrichids, lying at the extreme callitrichid pole as that grade is contrasted with cebids.

Miocene Hominoid Palatofacial Morphology

The palatofacial morphology of Proconsul africanus, P. nyanzae, P. major and Sivapithecus meteai is compared to extant catarrhines. The early Miocene hominoids (Proconsul) are unlike modern great apes, but retain a primitive catarrhine pattern more similar to some extant cercopthecoids. By middle Miocene times the typical hominoid palatofacial morphology can be recognized in at least one species (S. meteai) and this corresponds to the evolution of the postcranium in which the hominoid pattern is also only recognizable by the middle Miocene.