Dissertation Reseach: Anatomical Correlates to Behavior in the Postcranium of Callitrichidae (Platyrrhini, Primates)

先前对灵长类动物进化的研究表明，进化、生态和行为的某些方面对骨骼的骨骼和肌肉元素的大小和形状有直接影响。然而，这种关系并不总是很清楚，不同灵长类动物群体之间的相关性也不相同。已经确定了几个特定的形态决定因素，例如饮食和觅食行为，自然栖息地中使用的树枝的大小和方向，运动运动和姿势，身体大小以及谱系的进化史。这项研究的目的是将11种鲜为人知和高度濒危的南美猴子的骨骼和肌肉解剖结构与这些关键的形状决定因素联系起来。研究人员将对这11种猴子的四肢骨骼和肌肉组织进行具体的测量和描述。这些数据也将在另外8只灵长类动物身上收集，它们与猴子有着生态和行为上的相似之处，用于比较目的。每种猴子的行为和生态的细节以及比较组的成员将从已发表的实地研究和几只被囚禁的猴子的电影中获取。解剖数据将被分析其功能意义，确定每个肢体关节的运动能力，然后与每个物种的行为数据进行统计关联。这种综合的方法将提供对一种重要的南美猴子群的功能解剖学的全面了解。它还将作为对先前几个解剖学/行为相关性建议的严格测试，并将解决灵长类动物解剖学和进化中许多更广泛的问题。

Previous studies of primate evolution have demonstrated that certain aspects of evolution, ecology, and behavior have a direct impact on the size and shape of the bony and muscular elements of the skeleton. However, the relationships are not always clear, nor are the correlations the same across different primate groups. Several specific determinants of form have been identified, such as diet and foraging behavior, size and orientation of branches used in the natural habitat, locomotor movements and postures, body size, and evolutionary history of the lineage. The goal of this study is to correlate skeletal and muscular anatomy with these key determinants of form in eleven species of poorly-understood and highly endangered group of South American monkeys. Specific measurements and descriptions of the bones and musculature of all four limbs in each of the eleven monkey species will be taken. Such data will also be collected in a group of eight additional primates, sharing ecological and behavioral similarities with the monkeys, to be used for comparative purposes. Details of the behavior and ecology of each monkey species and members of the comparative group will be taken from published field studies and films of several monkeys in captivity. The anatomical data will be analyzed for its functional significance, determining the movement capabilities of each limb joint, and then will be statistically correlated with the behavioral data for each species. This integrated approach will provide a comprehensive understanding of the functional anatomy of an important group of South American monkeys. It will also serve as a rigorous test of several previous suggestions of anatomy/behavior correlations and will address numerous broader issues in primate anatomy and evolution.