Journal
EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
Volume 41, Issue 4, Pages 572-594Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s11692-014-9290-7
Keywords
Endocranium; Virtual endocast; Evolutionary development; Hominoid; Heterochrony; Geometric morphometrics
Categories
Funding
- Max Planck Society
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Postgraduate Scholarship (NAS)
- Ministry of the Environment and Forests
- Ministry of Research
- Swiss Centre for Scientific Research Abidjan
- University of Zurich
Ask authors/readers for more resources
By comparing species-specific developmental patterns, we can approach the question of how development shapes adult morphology and contributes to the evolution of novel forms. Studies of evolutionary changes to brain development in primates can provide important clues about the emergence of human cognition, but are hindered by the lack of preserved neural tissue in the fossil record. As a proxy, we study the shape of endocasts, virtual imprints of the endocranial cavity, using 3D geometric morphometrics. We have previously demonstrated that the pattern of endocranial shape development is shared by modern humans, chimpanzees and Neanderthals after the first year of life until adulthood. However, whether this represents a common hominoid mode of development is unknown. Here, we present the first characterization and comparison of ontogenetic endocranial shape changes in a cross-sectional sample of modern humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and gibbons. Using developmental simulations, we demonstrate that from late infancy to adulthood ontogenetic trajectories are similar among all hominoid species, but differ in the amount of shape change. Furthermore, we show that during early ontogeny gorillas undergo more pronounced shape changes along this shared trajectory than do chimpanzees, indicative of a dissociation of size and shape change. As shape differences between species are apparent in even our youngest samples, our results indicate that the ontogenetic trajectories of extant hominoids diverged at an earlier stage of ontogeny but subsequently converge following the eruption of the deciduous dentition.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available