Digital Evolutionary Morphology of the Primate Astragalo-Calcaneal Complex

这个项目将研究现代灵长类(真灵长类)及其近亲的上脚踝骨骼的形状变化。脚踝骨骼在化石记录中通常保存完好，它们的形状变化被认为反映了后肢在运动中的使用方式。这项研究的主要问题涉及重建真灵长类进化起源和随后的辐射中发生的运动变化的序列，这将有助于识别随时间推移的祖先模式。该项目在利用数字图像、实验方法以及包括现存和灭绝的灵长类动物的全面样本方面具有新颖性。更广泛的影响包括支持一名年轻的研究人员，培训通常代表人数较少的科学少数群体的研究生和本科生。这些数据将在一个在线数字图书馆中提供。该项目将专注于使用显微CT和激光扫描以及光学地形图生成灵长类黄盖骨和跟骨的数字模型。计划进行旅行，参观那些鲜为人知的重要标本所在的博物馆，以便对这些标本进行成像。数字数据将使用精确的线性测量、几何形态测量以及PI和合作者正在开发的新的自动化方法进行量化。这些数据将使用传统的统计技术以及考虑到生物数据由于不同的系统发育相关性而可能不独立的新方法进行分析。在这个项目中，PIS将评估几种类型的假说：1)脚踝形状与不同运动方式之间的相关性，2)某些化石真灵长类动物(即适配器科、尺蛾科、真灵长目和确定的茎-人总科)与其他真灵长类动物辐射的相似性的存在(及其意义)，以及3)灵长类动物黄芪和跟骨中形状变化的进化模式和适应意义。

This project will study shape variation in the upper ankle bones of primates of modern aspects (Euprimates) and their closest relatives. Ankle bones are commonly well-preserved in the fossil record, and their shape variation is thought to reflect the way the hind limbs are used in locomotion. The major questions being addressed in this research relate to reconstructing the sequence of changes in locomotion that occurred in the evolutionary origin and subsequent radiation of Euprimates, which will help identify patterns of ancestry through time. The project is novel in utilizing digital imagery, experimental methods, and inclusion of a comprehensive sample of extant and extinct primates. The broader impacts include support of a young investigator, training of graduate and undergraduates of typically under-represented minorities in science. The data will be made available in an online digital library.The project will focus on generating digital models of primate astragali and calcanei using microCT and laser scanning, and optical topography. Travel is planned to visit museums where obscure and important specimens reside in order to image those specimens. Digital data will be quantified using precise linear measurements, geometric morphometrics, and new automated methods being developed by the PI and collaborators. The data will be analyzed using traditional statistical techniques as well as using new methods that take into account potential non-independence of biological data due to differential phylogenetic relatedness. With this project the PIs will evaluate several types of hypotheses: those concerning the 1) correlation between ankle shape and different modes of locomotion, 2) presence (and significance) of similiarities among certain fossil euprimates (i.e., Adapidae, Omomyidae, Eosimiidae, and definitive stem-Anthropoidea) and the rest of the euprimate radiation, and 3) evolutionary pattern and adaptive significance of shape variation in the primate astragalus and calcaneus.