Dissertation Research: Functional Morphology of the Proconsul Bony Pelvis

论文研究：原领骨盆的功能形态学

• 批准号: 8918400
• 负责人: Alan Walker
• 金额: $ 0.5万
• 依托单位: Johns Hopkins University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1989
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1989-12-01 至 1990-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=8918400&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Functional; Morphology; Proconsul

One of the major anatomical differences between humans and apes is in the construction of the pelvis (hipbones) which permits humans to walk with habitually upright posture, whereas apes cannot. Although these bones are well known from living humans and living apes, fossil fragments of this important part of the skeleton are infrequently found and complete fossil pelvic bones are exceedingly rare. Recently a nearly complete hipbone of the Miocene ape, Proconsul, was discovered in East Africa together with fragments of additional hipbones. The purpose of this research is to describe, analyze, and interpret the functional morphology of these bones. They will be compared with bones from a large sample of living and extinct anthropoid primates in order to interpret their locomotor and positional repertoire. Some investigators have suggested that Proconsul represents a mixture of hominoid, cercopithecoid and unique features. This analysis will help resolve this question about the exact phylogenetic position of Proconsul, a topic currently under considerable debate.

人类和猿类之间的主要解剖学差异之一是骨盆（髋骨）的构造，允许人类以习惯性直立的姿势行走，而猿类则不能。 尽管这些骨骼是从活着的人和活猿中众所周知的，但很少发现骨骼的化石碎片，并且完全罕见的化石骨盆骨骼非常罕见。 最近，在东非发现了中新世猿几乎完整的髋骨，以及其他髋骨的碎片。 这项研究的目的是描述，分析和解释这些骨骼的功能形态。 将它们与大量生物和灭绝的人类动物灵长类动物样本的骨骼进行比较，以解释其运动和位置曲目。 一些研究人员建议，Proconsul代表了类型，固定型和独特特征的混合物。 该分析将有助于解决有关Proconsul的确切系统发育位置的问题，Proconsul是当前正在备受争议的主题。