Abstract
The major body size disparity between the hylobatids (small apes) and hominids (large apes), as well as the scarce number of extant hominoid taxa, is particularly challenging for interpreting hominoid craniofacial feature polarities. Any features differing between the two subclades will automatically be correlated, whether causally or spuriously, with body size. In this chapter, we highlight examples where the validity of several proposed hominid synapomorphies is challenged when hylobatid morphology and multilevel allometric analyses are factored in. These findings have implications regarding various Miocene hominoid evolutionary scenarios. We propose that hominoid phylogenetic studies in general require an increased emphasis on the hylobatids, and we offer a specific multistep allometric framework that can be applied to studying fossil and extant hominoid morphologies.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Alba DM (2010) Cognitive inferences in fossil apes (Primates, Hominoidea): does encephalization reflect intelligence? J Anthropological Sci 88:11–48
Andrews P (1987) Aspects of hominoid phylogeny. In: Patterson C (ed) Molecules and morphology in evolution: conflict or compromise? Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 23–54
Andrews P, Martin L (1987) Cladistic relationships of extant and fossil hominoids. J Hum Evol 16:101–118
Barrickman NL, Bastian ML, Isler K, van Schaik CP (2008) Life history costs and benefits of encephalization: a comparative test using data from long-term studies of primates in the wild. J Hum Evol 54:568–590
Begun DR (1992) Miocene fossil hominids and the chimp-human clade. Science 257:1929–1933
Begun DR (1994) Relations among the great apes and humans: New interpretations based on the fossil great ape Dryopithecus. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 37:11–63
Begun DR (1995) Late Miocene European orangutans, gorillas, humans, or none of the above? J Hum Evol 29:169–180
Begun DR (2002) European hominoids. In: Hartwig WC (ed) The primate fossil record. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 339–368
Begun DR (2007) Fossil Record of Miocene Hominoids. In: Henke W, Tattersall I (eds) Handbook of Paleoanthropology, vol II. Primate evolution and human origins. Springer, Berlin, pp 921–977
Begun DR, Kordos L (2004) Cranial evidence in the evolution of intelligence in fossil apes. In: Russon AE, Begun DR (eds) The evolution of thought: evolutionary origins of great ape intelligence. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 260–279
Benefit BR, McCrossin ML (1991) Ancestral facial morphology of old world higher primates. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 88:5267–5271
Bilsborough A, Rae TC (2007) Hominoid diversity and adaptation. In: Henke W, Tattersall I (eds) Handbook of paleoanthropology. Primate evolution and human origins, vol II. Springer, Berlin, pp 1031–1105
Brown B, Kappelman J, Ward SC (2005) Lots of faces from different places: what Craniofacial morphology does(n’t) tell us about hominoid phylogenetics. In: Lieberman DE, Smith RJ, Kelley J (eds) Interpreting the past: essays on human, primate, and mammal evolution in honor of David Pilbeam. Brill Academic Publishers Inc, Boston, pp 167–188
Chatterjee HJ (2006) Phylogeny and biogeography of gibbons: a dispersal-vicariance analysis. Int J Primatol 27:699–712
Corruccini RS (1981) Analytical techniques for cartesian coordinate data with reference to the relationship between Hylobates and Symphalangus (Hylobatidae; Hominoidea). Syst Zool 30:32–40
Cote SM (2004) Origins of the African hominoids and assessment of the palaeobiological evidence. CR Palevol 3:323–340
Creel N (1986) Size and phylogeny in hominoid primates. Syst Zool 35:81–99
Demes B, Creel N, Preuschoft H (1986) Functional significance of allometric trends in the hominoid masticatory apparatus. In: Else JG, Lee PC (eds) Primate evolution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 229–237
Folinsbee KE, Brooks DR (2007) Miocene hominoid biogeography: pulses of dispersal and differentiation. J Biogeogr 34:383–397
Gannon PJ, Eden AR, Laitman JT (1988) The subarcuate fossa and cerebellum of extant primates: Comparative study of a skull-brain interface. Am J Phys Anthropol 77:143–164
Geissmann T (1993) Evolution of communication in Gibbons (Hylobatidae). Dissertation, University of Zurich
Gould SJ (1966) Allometry and size in ontogeny and phylogeny. Biol Rev 41:587–640
Gould SJ (1971) Geometric similarity in allometric growth. Am Naturalist 105:113–136
Gould SJ (1975) Allometry in primates, with emphasis on scaling and the evolution of the brain. In: Szalay F (ed) Approaches to primate paleobiology, vol 5. Karger, Basel, pp 244–292
Groves CP (1972) Systematics and phylogeny of the gibbons. In: Rumbaugh DM (ed) Gibbon and Siamang, vol 1. Karger, Basel, pp 1–89
Harrison T (1982) Small-bodied apes from the miocene of East Africa. Dissertation, University of London
Harrison T (1987) The phylogenetic relationships of the early catarrhine primates: a review of the current evidence. J Hum Evol 16:41–80
Huxley JS (ed) (1932) Problems of relative growth. Methuen, London
Israfil H, Zehr SM, Mootnick AR, Ruvolo M, Steiper ME (2011) Unresolved molecular phylogenies of gibbons and siamangs (Family: Hylobatidae) based on mitochondrial, Y-linked, and X-linked loci indicate a rapid Miocene radiation or sudden vicariance event. Mol Phylogenet Evol 58:447–455
Jabonski NG, Chaplin G (2009) The fossil record of Gibbons. In: Lappan S, Whittaker DJ (eds) The Gibbons: new perspectives on small ape socioecology and population biology. Springer, New York, pp 111–131
Jungers WL (1984) Scaling of the hominoid locomotor skeleton with special reference to lesser apes. In: Preuschoft H, Chivers DJ, Brockelman W, Creel N (eds) The lesser apes: evolutionary and behavioural biology. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, pp 146–169
Jungers WL (1988) New estimates of body size in australopithecines. In: Grine FE (ed) Evolutionary history of the “robust” australopithecines. Aldine de Gruyer, New York, pp 115–125
Jungers WL (1997) Orang-utans of the menage scientific expedition to Borneo. Am J Phys Anthropol 24:138–139
Jungers WL, Sussman RL (1984) Body size and skeletal allometry in African apes. In: Sussman RL (ed) The pygmy Chimpanzee. Plenum Press, New York, pp 131–177
Kelley J (1997) Paleobiological and phylogenetic significance of life history in Miocene hominoids. In: Begun DR, Ward CV, Rose MD (eds) Function, phylogeny and fossils: Miocene hominoid origins and adaptations. Plenum Press, New York, pp 173–208
Kunimatsu Y, Ishida H, Nakatsukasa M, Nakano Y, Sawada Y, Nakayama K (2004) Maxillae and associated gnathodental specimens of Nacholapithecus kerioi, a large-bodied hominoid from Nachola, northern Kenya. J Hum Evol 46:365–400
Larson SG (1998) Parallel evolution in the hominoid trunk and forelimb. Evol Anthropol 6:87–89
Le Gros Clark WE (ed) (1960) The antecedents of man. Quadrangle Books, Chicago
Leslie ER (2010) Phylogenetic patterning of facial orientation in the hominoids. Dissertation, Northwestern University
Ma S, Wang Y, Poirier FE (1988) Taxonomy, distribution and status of gibbons (Hylobates) in Southern China and adjacent areas. Primates 29:277–286
Markham R, Groves CP (1990) Brief communication: weights of wild orang utans. Am J Phys Anthropol 81:1–3
McCollum MA (1995) Palatal thickening and facial form in Paranthropus: evaluation of alternative developmental models. Dissertation, Kent State University
McCollum MA, Ward SC (1997) Subnasoalveolar anatomy and hominoid phylogeny: evidence from comparative ontogeny. Am J Phys Anthropol 102:377–405
McNulty KP (2004) A geometric morphometric assessment of hominoid crania: conservative African apes and their liberal implications. Ann Anat 186:429–433
Moya-Sola S, Alba DM, Almecija S, Casanovas-Vilar I, Kohler M, De Esteban-Trivigno S, Robles JM, Galindo J, Fortuny J (2009a) A unique middle Miocene European hominoid and the origins of the great ape and human clade. P Natl Acad Sci USA 106:9601–9606
Moyà-Solà S, Köhler M (1995) New partial cranium of Dryopithecus lartet, 1863 (Hominoidea, Primates) from the upper Miocene of Can Llobateres, Barcelona, Spain. J Hum Evol 29:101–139
Moyà-Solà S, Köhler M, Alba DM, Casanovas-Vilar I, Galindo J, Robles JM, Cabrera L, Garces M, Almecija S, Beamud E (2009b) First partial face and upper dentition of the Middle Miocene hominoid Dryopithecus fontani from Abocador de Can Mata (Valles-Penedes Basin, Catalonia, NE Spain): taxonomic and phylogenetic implications. Am J Phys Anthropol 139:126–145
Moyà-Solà S, Köhler M, Alba DM, Casanovas-Vilar I, Galindo J (2004) Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, a new middle Miocene great ape from Spain. Science 306:1339–1344
Orgeldinger M (1994) Monitoring body weight in captive primates, with special reference to siamangs. International Zoo News 41:17–26
Pilbeam DR (1996) Genetic and morphological records of the hominoidea and hominid origins: a synthesis. Mol Phylogenet Evol 5:155–168
Pilbeam DR (2002) Perspectives on the Miocene hominoidea. In: Hartwig WC (ed) The primate fossil record. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 303–310
Pilbeam DR, Young NM (2004) Hominoid evolution: synthesizing disparate data. C R Palevol 3:305–321
Raaum RL, Sterner KN, Noviello CM, Stewart CB, Disotell TR (2005) Catarrhine primate divergence dates estimated from complete mitochondrial genomes: concordance with fossil and nuclear DNA evidence. J Hum Evol 48:237–257
Rae TC (1993) Phylogenetic analysis of proconsulid facial morphology. Dissertation, State University of New York at Stony Brook
Rae TC (1999) Mosaic evolution in the origin of the Hominoidea. Folia Primatol 70:125–135
Rae TC (2004) Miocene hominoid craniofacial morphology and the emergence of great apes. Ann Anat 186:417–421
Rae TC, Koppe T (2000) Isometric scaling of maxillary sinus volume in hominoids. J Hum Evol 38:411–423
Ravosa MJ (2000) Size and scaling in the mandible of living and extinct apes. Folia Primatol 71:305–322
Reichard UH, Barelli C (2008) Life history and reproductive strategies of Khao Yai white-handed gibbon females (Hylobates lar). Int J Primatol 29:823–844
Schultz AH (1968) The recent hominoid primates. In: Washburn SL, Jay PC (eds) Perspectives on human evolution, vol 1. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, pp 122––195
Shea BT (1981) Relative growth of the limb and trunk in the African apes. Am J Phys Anthropol 56:179–202
Shea BT (1982) Growth and size allometry in the African Pongidae: cranial and postcranial analyses. Dissertation, Duke University
Shea BT (1983a) Allometry and heterochrony in the African apes. Am J Phys Anthropol 62:275–289
Shea BT (1983b) Size and diet in the evolution of African ape craniodental form. Folia Primatol 40:32–68
Shea BT (1984) An allometric perspective on the morphological and evolutionary relationships between Pygmy (Pan paniscus) and common (Pan troglodytes) Chimpanzees. In: Susman RL (ed) The pygmy Chimpanzee: evolutionary biology and behavior. Plenum Press, New York, pp 89–130
Shea BT (1988) Phylogeny and skull form in the hominoid primates. In: Schwartz J (ed) Orang-utan biology. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 233–246
Shea, BT (2002) Quantitative heterochrony: Are some heterochronic transformations likelier than others? In: Minugh-Purvis N, McNamara KJ (eds) Human evolution through developmental change. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, pp 79–101
Shea BT (2005) Brain/body allometry: using extant apes to establish appropriate scaling baselines. Am J Phys Anthropol S 126:189
Shea BT (2006) Start small and live slow: encephalization, body size, and life history strategies in primate origins and evolution. In: Ravosa MJ, Dagosto M (eds) Primate origins: adaptations and evolution. Springer, New York, pp 583–623
Shea BT (2013) Cranial evolution in the apes. In: Begun DR (ed) A Companion to paleoanthropology. Wiley-Blackwell, West Sussex, UK, pp 119–135
Shea BT, Leslie ER (2004) Allometric influences on facial form in lesser apes. Am J Phys Anthropol S 123:179
Smith RJ, Jungers WL (1997) Body mass in comparative primatology. J Hum Evol 32:523–559
Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (eds) (2011) Biometry, 4th edn. WH Freeman & Company, New York
Spoor F, Leakey M (1996) Absence of the subarcuate fossa in cercopithecids. J Human Evol. 31:569–575
Stauffer RL, Walker A, Ryder OA, Lyons-Weiler M, Blair Hedges S (2001) Human and ape molecular clocks and constraints on paleontological hypotheses. J Hered 92:469–474
Stewart CB, Disotell TR (1998) Primate evolution—in and out of Africa. Curr Biol 8:R582–588
Terhune CE (2010) The temporomandibular joint in anthropoid primates: functional, allometric, and phylogenetic influences. Dissertation, Arizona State University
Thinh VN, Mootnick AR, Geissmann T, Li M, Ziegler T, Agil M, Moisson P, Nadler T, Walter L, Roos C (2010) Mitochondrial evidence for multiple radiations in the evolutionary history of small apes. BMC Evol Biol 10:74
Tyler DE (1991) The problems of the pliopithecidae as a hylobatid ancestor. Hum Evol 6:73–80
Tyler DE (1993) The evolutionary history of the gibbon. In: Jablonski NG (ed) Evolving landscapes and evolving biotas of east Asia since the mid-tertiary. Centre for Asian Studies, Hong Kong, pp 228–240
Uehara S, Nishida T (1987) Body weights of wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) of the Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania. Am J Phys Anthropol 72:315–321
Ward S (1997) The taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of Sivapithecus Revisited. In: Begun DR, Ward CV, Rose MD (eds) Function, phylogeny, and fossils: miocene hominoid evolution and adaptations. Plenum Press, New York, pp 269–290
Williams MF (2002) Primate encephalization and intelligence. Med Hypotheses 58:284–290
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Leslie, E.R., Shea, B.T. (2016). Gibbons to Gorillas: Allometric Issues in Hominoid Cranial Evolution. In: Reichard, U., Hirai, H., Barelli, C. (eds) Evolution of Gibbons and Siamang. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-5614-2_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-5614-2_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-5612-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-5614-2
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)