Morphological correlates of distal fibular morphology with locomotion in great apes, humans, and Australopithecus afarensis.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Recent studies highlighted the importance of the fibula to further our understanding of locomotor adaptations in fossil hominins. In this study, we present a three-dimensional geometric morphometric (3D-GM) investigation of the distal fibula in extant hominids and Australopithecus afarensis with the aim of pointing out morphological correlations to arboreal behavior.

Methods

Three-dimensional surface meshes of the distal fibula were obtained using computer tomography for 40 extant hominid specimens and laser scanner for five A. afarensis specimens. Distal fibula morphology was quantified positioning 11 fixed landmarks, 40 curve semilandmarks, and 20 surface landmarks on each specimen. A generalized Procrustes analysis (GPA) was carried out on all landmark coordina

SUBMITTER: Marchi D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9314891 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature