Anemone R L
Department of Anthropology, State University of New York, Geneseo 14454.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 1990 Nov;83(3):373-93. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.1330830310.
The descriptive and functional morphology of the postcranium of the vertical clinging and leaping prosimians is of great interest in both adaptational and phylogenetic studies of extant and extinct primates. An analysis of patterns of femoral morphology among quadrupedal and saltatory living prosimians indicates the presence of at least two, and possibly three, distinct femoral adaptations to the demands of an arboreal, saltatory existence. Osteological measurements were taken on 277 postcranial skeletons representing eight prosimian families, with skeletal trunk length (Biegert and Maurer, Folia Primatol. 17:142-156, 1972) used as an estimator of body size in both bivariate and multivariate (discriminant function) statistical analyses. Whereas all extant vertical clingers and leapers share certain femoral traits (i.e., long femur, proximally restricted trochanters, ventrally raised patellar articular surface), Galagidae and Tarsiidae share features of the proximal femur (i.e., cylindrical head, large posterior expansion of articular surface onto the neck) that clearly distinguish them from the specialized leapers of the Malagasy Republic (Indriidae and Lepilemur). These latter animals closely resemble active quadrupedal Lemuriformes in possessing spherical femoral heads, with little posterior expansion of articular surface and a distinctive greater trochanter shape. Some traits suggested as being characteristic of vertical clingers and leapers (i.e., deep femoral condyles facing posteriorly, narrow patellar groove with prominent lateral margin, greater trochanter overhanging anterior aspect of shaft) are shown to be common to all prosimians except the slow-climbing lorisids. The functional significance of aspects of femoral morphology among saltators is discussed, along with the relevance of these results to an assessment of vertical clinging and leaping among extant and extinct primates.
垂直攀附和跳跃原猴类后肢骨骼的描述性和功能性形态学，在现存和已灭绝灵长类动物的适应性及系统发育研究中都极具意义。对四足行走和跳跃的现存原猴类股骨形态模式的分析表明，至少存在两种，也可能有三种不同的股骨适应性特征，以满足树栖、跳跃生活的需求。对代表八个原猴科的277个后肢骨骼进行了骨学测量，在双变量和多变量（判别函数）统计分析中，均使用骨骼躯干长度（Biegert和Maurer，《灵长类学论文集》17:142 - 156，1972）作为体型的估计指标。虽然所有现存的垂直攀附和跳跃者都具有某些股骨特征（即股骨长、转子近端受限、髌骨关节面腹侧隆起），但婴猴科和跗猴科在股骨近端具有共同特征（即圆柱形股骨头、关节面在颈部向后大幅扩展），这使它们明显区别于马达加斯加共和国的特化跳跃者（大狐猴科和鼬狐猴科）。后一类动物在拥有球形股骨头方面与活跃的四足狐猴型动物极为相似，关节面后向扩展很小，且大转子形状独特。一些被认为是垂直攀附和跳跃者特征的性状（即股骨髁后部深陷、髌槽狭窄且外侧边缘突出、大转子悬于骨干前方）被证明是除缓慢攀爬的懒猴科以外所有原猴类的共同特征。文中讨论了跳跃者股骨形态各方面的功能意义，以及这些结果与评估现存和已灭绝灵长类动物垂直攀附和跳跃行为的相关性。
