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Effects of cranial integration on hominid endocranial shape
- Source :
- Journal of Anatomy
- Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- Because brains do not fossilize, the internal surface of the braincase (endocast) serves as an important source of information about brain growth, development, and evolution. Recent studies of endocranial morphology and development in great apes, fossil hominins, and modern humans have revealed taxon-specific differences. However, it remains to be investigated to which extent differences in endocranial morphology reflect differences in actual brain morphology and development, and to which extent they reflect different interactions of the brain and its case with the cranial base and face. Here we address this question by analyzing the effects of cranial integration on endocranial morphology. We test the 'spatial packing' and 'facial orientation' hypotheses, which propose that size and orientation of the neurocranium relative to the viscerocranium influence endocranial shape. Results show that a substantial proportion of endocranial shape variation along and across ontogenetic trajectories is due to cranial integration. Specifically, the uniquely globular shape of the human endocast mainly results from the combination of an exceptionally large brain with a comparatively small face. Overall, thus, cranial integration has pervasive effects on endocranial morphology, and only a comparatively small proportion of inter- and intra-taxon variation can directly be associated with variation in brain morphology.
- Subjects :
- Male
0301 basic medicine
10207 Department of Anthropology
Histology
Morphology (biology)
Biology
2722 Histology
1309 Developmental Biology
1307 Cell Biology
03 medical and health sciences
Globular shape
medicine
1312 Molecular Biology
Animals
Humans
10. No inequality
Molecular Biology
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Skull Base
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology
Skull
Brain morphometry
Age Factors
Brain
Hominidae
Original Articles
Cell Biology
Anatomy
2702 Anatomy
Biological Evolution
030104 developmental biology
Brain growth
medicine.anatomical_structure
1105 Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Viscerocranium
Neurocranium
Female
Small face
Endocast
Developmental Biology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Anatomy
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....da676b52a143c5fb9136624e87a73d81