Functional Information in Individual Anterior Tarsal Bones of Anthropoids
The five anterior tarsals of the foot--navicular, cuboid, first, second, and third cuneiforms--are promising candidates for good fossil preservation because of their compact shape and density, but are frequently unassociated with the more commonly preserved teeth and mandibular fragments. To be of use in interpreting the evolutionary history of locomotor modes, an anterior tarsal as a separate entity must contain information. Quantitative morphological studies and discriminant analyses of measured anterior tarsal variables and their ratios for Ateles, Cebus, Colobus, Gorilla, Homo, Hylobates, Mandrillus, Pan, Papio, Pongo, Presbytis, Symphalangus, and Theropithecus demonstrate that specializations have been impressed in their shape. Although morphologically conservative, the external architecture of the five bones, especially the proportions of the articular surfaces, correlates with weight support, mobility, stability, and direction of stress which in turn relate to habitat and locomotion.
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign