Bush Eliot C, Simons Elwyn L, Allman John M
Biology Division, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA.
Anat Rec A Discov Mol Cell Evol Biol. 2004 Nov;281(1):1083-7. doi: 10.1002/ar.a.20113.
Extant anthropoids have large brains, small olfactory bulbs, and high-acuity vision compared with other primates. The relative timing of the evolution of these characteristics may have important implications for brain evolution. Here computed tomography is used to examine the cranium of a fossil anthropoid, Parapithecus grangeri. It is found that P. grangeri had a relatively small brain compared with living primates. In addition, it had an olfactory bulb in the middle of the range for living primates. Methods for relating optic foramen area and other cranial measurements to acuity are discussed. Multiple regression is used to estimate retinal ganglion cell number in P. grangeri. Given currently available comparative data, P. grangeri seems to have had retinal ganglion cell counts intermediate for living primates, overlapping with the upper end of the range for strepsirrhines and possibly with the lower end for anthropoids.
与其他灵长类动物相比，现存的类人猿大脑较大，嗅球较小，视觉敏锐度较高。这些特征进化的相对时间可能对大脑进化具有重要意义。在这里，计算机断层扫描被用于检查一种化石类人猿——格兰杰副猿（Parapithecus grangeri）的颅骨。研究发现，与现存灵长类动物相比，格兰杰副猿的大脑相对较小。此外，它的嗅球大小处于现存灵长类动物的范围中间。文中讨论了将视神经孔面积和其他颅骨测量值与视觉敏锐度相关联的方法。使用多元回归来估计格兰杰副猿的视网膜神经节细胞数量。根据目前可用的比较数据，格兰杰副猿的视网膜神经节细胞数量似乎处于现存灵长类动物的中间水平，与狐猴型灵长类动物范围的上限重叠，可能与类人猿范围的下限重叠。
