Journal
ANATOMICAL RECORD PART A-DISCOVERIES IN MOLECULAR CELLULAR AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
Volume 281A, Issue 1, Pages 1083-1087Publisher
WILEY-LISS
DOI: 10.1002/ar.a.20113
Keywords
optic foramen; acuity; olfactory bulbs; endocranial volume
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Funding
- NEI NIH HHS [EY11759] Funding Source: Medline
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Extant anthropoids have large brains, small olfactory bulbs, and highacuity vision compared with other primates. The relative timing of the evolution of these characteristics may have important implications for brain evolution. Here computed tomography is used to examine the cranium of a fossil anthropoid, Parapithecus grangeri. It is found that P. grangeri had a relatively small brain compared with living primates. In addition, it had an olfactory bulb in the middle of the range for living primates. Methods for relating optic foramen area and other cranial measurements to acuity are discussed. Multiple regression is used to estimate retinal ganglion cell number in P. grangeri. Given currently available comparative data, P. grangeri seems to have had retinal ganglion cell counts intermediate for living primates, overlapping with the upper end of the range for strepsir-rhines and possibly with the lower end for anthropoids. (C) 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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