DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Ontogeny of Paranasal Sinuses in the Platyrrhini (Haplorhini, Primates)

新大陆猴（学名：Platyrrhines）是一种多样的灵长类动物，其在南美洲和中美洲的进化历史至少可以追溯到渐新世晚期。尽管近几十年来进行了大量的研究，但这一组物种之间的进化关系一直难以解决。颅齿和颅后解剖学的研究，以及分子数据，产生了相互矛盾的结果，特别是关于绒猴和绢毛猴。此外，在大多数分析中，松鼠猴（Saimiri）、卷尾猴（Cebus）、猫头鹰猴（Aotus）和Callicebus（titi猴）与其他新大陆猴的关系是模棱两可的。本研究旨在通过提供迄今为止鲜为人知的解剖学区域-鼻窦的信息，为解决这些不确定性做出贡献。 鼻旁窦是鼻腔的中空粘液衬里的外袋，占据哺乳动物面部骨骼的各个部分。鼻窦解剖学在旧大陆猴和猿中有很好的记录，它提供了几个属和属群的诊断特征。它还没有在NWM关系的研究中发挥作用，因为我们对不同物种中存在哪些鼻窦的知识非常不完整。我们仅有的一点信息表明，这些猴子可能比其他灵长类动物表现出更大的窦模式多样性。该项目将使用干燥颅骨的计算机断层扫描作为非侵入性手段，对代表10个属的47个阔鼻类标本的鼻窦内部解剖结构进行成像。每个属都有一系列从幼年到成年的年龄分级标本，首次记录了它们鼻窦的发育。本分析记录的窦解剖的分类分布将比较几个竞争的系统发育假说，以揭示它支持的关系。通过完善我们对高等灵长类动物窦模式的了解，这些数据也将有助于解释旧大陆猴和猿化石代表的窦解剖。

The New World monkeys (platyrrhines) are a diverse group of primates whose evolutionary history in South and Central America dates back to at least the late Oligocene. Despite a great deal of study in recent decades the evolutionary relationships between species of this group have been difficult to resolve. Studies of craniodental and postcranial anatomy, as well as molecular data, have produced conflicting results, especially with regard to marmosets and tamarins. In addition, the relationships of Saimiri (the squirrel monkeys), Cebus (capuchins), Aotus (owl monkeys), and Callicebus (titi monkeys) to the rest of the New World monkeys are equivocal in most analyses. The present study seeks to contribute to the resolution of these uncertainties by providing information from a hitherto poorly known region of anatomy, the paranasal sinuses. The paranasal sinuses are hollow mucous-lined outpocketings of the nasal cavity that occupy various portions of the facial skeleton in mammals. Sinus anatomy is well documented in Old World monkeys and apes, in which it provides diagnostic features of several genera and groups of genera. It has yet to play a role in studies of NWM relationships because our knowledge of which sinuses are present in different species is very incomplete. What little information we have indicates that these monkeys may exhibit a greater diversity of sinus patterns than any other group of primates. This project will used computed tomography scanning of dry crania as a non-invasive means of imaging the internal anatomy of the sinuses in forty-seven specimens of platyrrhines representing ten genera. Each genus is represented by an age-graded series of specimens from juvenile to adult, allowing the development of their sinuses to be documented for the first time. The taxonomic distribution of sinus anatomy documented by this analysis will be compared to several competing phylogenetic hypotheses in order to reveal which relationships it supports. By completing our knowledge of sinus patterns in higher primates, these data will also facilitate interpretation of sinus anatomy in fossil representatives of Old World monkeys and apes.