Craniofacial Sexual Dimorphism in Primates

大多数雄性和雌性灵长类动物，包括人类祖先，在头骨的解剖上表现出显著的差异(二形性)。二态识别对于化石记录中物种的识别具有重要意义。此外，由于二相性与现存灵长类动物的社会行为变化密切相关，它通常被用来支持关于灭绝物种，特别是人类祖先及其近亲的社会行为的主张。然而，目前关于灵长类动物的颅骨二型性，以及这种二型性能否被用来重建灭绝物种的社会行为的信息很少。这项研究将收集一组精心挑选的现存灵长类动物的数据，以记录现存灵长类动物和人类的二态现象的规模和模式，并评估密切相关的化石样本中的差异是否可以归因于二态现象，而不是物种之间的差异。这项研究还将评估头面部二型性是否可以用来推断他们的社会行为的各个方面。这项研究将为评估人类谱系中物种的多样性，以及重建人类及其近亲进化过程中发生的行为变化提供强有力的数据基础。

Most male and female primates, including human ancestors, show substantial differences (dimorphism) in the anatomy of the skull. The recognition of dimorphism is important for identifying species in the fossil record. Additionally, because dimorphism is strongly associated with variation in social behavior in living primates, it is used commonly to support claims about the social behavior of extinct species, especially human ancestors and their closest relatives. However, there is currently very little information documenting cranial dimorphism among living primates, and whether such dimorphism can be used to reconstruct the social behavior of extinct species. This study will gather data on a carefully selected set of living primates to document the magnitude and pattern of dimorphism in living primates and humans, and evaluate whether variation in samples of closely related fossils can be attributed to dimorphism, as opposed to variation that occurs between species. The study will also evaluate whether craniofacial dimorphism can be used to infer aspects of their social behavior. This study will provide a strong data base for evaluating the diversity of species in the human lineage, and for reconstructing the changes in behavior that occurred in the evolution of humans and their closest relatives.