ALLOMETRY OF TRUNK AND LIMBS IN NEW WORLD PRIMATES.
Item
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Title
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ALLOMETRY OF TRUNK AND LIMBS IN NEW WORLD PRIMATES.
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Identifier
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AAI8302556
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identifier
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8302556
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Creator
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DYKYJ, DARIA.
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Contributor
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Warren G. Kinzey
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Date
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1982
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Anthropology, Physical
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Abstract
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This study investigates the relationship between body size and relative limb length in fifteen genera of New World primates. Previous evidence from the Infraorders Strepsirhini and Catarrhini has suggested that increase in body size was often associated with relative forelimb elongation even in very differently adapted groups; Cartmill has proposed an adaptive basis for this effect. The present study determines if and how relative forelimb elongation occurs in the third extant primate Infraorder, the Platyrrhini.;Allometric analysis was performed on skeletal elements of the trunk (thoracic, lumbar and pelvic regions) and limbs (length and width of humerus, radius, femur, tibia, third metacarpal and third metatarsal) in fifteen platyrrhine genera and six platyrrhine species. Three modes of allometric analysis were employed: the multivariate major axis method, the bivariate reduced major axis method, and the bivariate least squares method.;These analyses show that increase in body size among Platyrrhines is accompanied by a slightly greater rate of increase in forelimb length than in hindlimb length. This difference occurs throughout the Platyrrhini, in most functional and taxonomic subgroups, and within species. Particularly short hindlimbs in Alouatta and Lagothrix, and particularly long forelimbs in Ateles represent specializations in body proportions which act to separate further the forelimb and hindlimb slopes at the large bodied end of the platyrrhine size range. The most outstanding allometric feature identified is negative allometry of lumbar length in larger Platyrrhines; this serves to elongate both sets of limbs relative to the trunk and to facilitate climbing and suspensory adaptation at larger body sizes.;Intraspecific patterns differ from the intergeneric pattern and from each other, although four of the six species studied share a high incidence of negative allometry. This pattern is interpreted in terms of intraspecific maintenance of similar form and function within a wider range of body size than would be permitted by isometry.;Intergeneric platyrrhine allometry reveals greater conformity to geometric than to elastic similarity models although most allometric coefficients differ from those expected by either model. When shaft lengths scale non-isometrically with body size, their widths do not scale correspondingly, but rather inversely, with their lengths.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Anthropology
