Digital Evolutionary Morphology of the Primate Astragalo-Calcaneal Complex

该项目将研究现代灵长类动物（真灵长类）及其近亲的上踝骨的形状变化。踝骨通常在化石记录中保存得很好，它们的形状变化被认为反映了后肢在运动中的使用方式。本研究解决的主要问题是重建灵长类动物在进化起源和随后的辐射中发生的运动变化序列，这将有助于确定祖先的模式。该项目在利用数字图像、实验方法和包括现存和灭绝的灵长类动物的综合样本方面是新颖的。更广泛的影响包括支持一名年轻的研究者，培训通常在科学领域代表性不足的少数民族的研究生和本科生。这些数据将在一个在线数字图书馆中提供。该项目将侧重于利用微型ct和激光扫描以及光学地形图生成灵长类动物黄芪和跟骨的数字模型。为了给这些标本拍照，计划去参观那些不知名的和重要的标本所在的博物馆。数字数据将使用精确的线性测量、几何形态计量学和PI及其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进行分析，也将使用考虑到由于不同的系统发育相关性而导致的生物数据潜在的非独立性的新方法。在这个项目中，pi将评估几种类型的假设：1)脚踝形状与不同运动模式之间的相关性；2)某些原始灵长类化石（即Adapidae， Omomyidae， Eosimiidae和确定的干人科）与其他原始灵长类辐射之间存在相似性（和重要性）；3)灵长类动物黄体和跟骨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.