Craniodental variation among Macaques (Macaca), nonhuman primates.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In terms of structure and function, the skull is one of the most complicated organs in the body. It is also one of the most important parts in terms of developmental and evolutionary origins. This complexity makes it difficult to obtain evolutionary assessments if, as is usually the case with fossils, only part of the skull is available. For this reason this study involves a set of comparisons whereby the smallest functional units are studied first, and these built up, through a triple-nested hierarchical design, into more complex anatomical regions and eventually into the skull-as-a-whole. This design has been applied to macaques (Macaca) in order to reveal patterns of variation at the different levels. The profiles of such variation have been obtained both within and b

SUBMITTER: Pan R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC115202 | biostudies-literature | 2002 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature