Morphometrics and hominoid phylogeny: Support for a chimpanzee–human clade and differentiation among great ape subspecies

AUTOR(ES)

Lockwood, Charles A.

FONTE

National Academy of Sciences

RESUMO

Taxonomic and phylogenetic analyses of great apes and humans have identified two potential areas of conflict between molecular and morphological data: phylogenetic relationships among living species and differentiation of great ape subspecies. Here we address these problems by using morphometric data. Three-dimensional landmark data from the hominoid temporal bone effectively quantify the shape of a complex element of the skull. Phylogenetic analysis using distance-based methods corroborates the molecular consensus on African ape and human phylogeny, strongly supporting a Pan–Homo clade. Phenetic differentiation of great ape subspecies is pronounced, as suggested previously by mitochondrial DNA and some morphological studies. These results show that the hominoid temporal bone contains a strong phylogenetic signal and reveal the potential for geometric morphometric analysis to shed light on phylogenetic relationships.

Documentos Relacionados

• Old World fruitbat phylogeny: Evidence for convergent evolution and an endemic African clade
• Gene trees and hominoid phylogeny.
• The new animal phylogeny: Reliability and implications
• Large-Scale Variation Among Human and Great Ape Genomes Determined by Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization
• Recently recovered Kenyapithecus mandible and its implications for great ape and human origins.