Morphological diversity of anatomical strepsirrhinism and the evolution of the lemuriform toothcomb

American Journal of Physical Anthropology
R J Asher

Abstract

The hypothesis that the vomeronasal organ has an important functional relationship with, and led to the evolution of, the prosimian toothcomb has not been well tested. This paper examines the diversity of anatomical strepsirrhinism across several mammalian taxa to determine if fossil and living strepsirrhine primates exhibit any derived characters that may highlight the functional link between the vomeronasal organ and the toothcomb, and to examine the potential importance of anatomical strepsirrhinism to toothcomb origins. Results indicate that extant gregarious lemuriforms are derived in having a relatively wide interincisal gap, providing an unobstructed line of communication between the vomeronasal organ and anterior rostral structures such as the toothcomb. This finding is consistent with the proposal that anatomical strepsirrhinism is functionally related to use of the toothcomb in grooming. However, the importance of the vomeronasal organ to toothcomb origins is less clear. If the morphology of adapiforms and non-gregarious lemuriforms is representative of the morphology of basal lemuriforms, then it can be inferred that early lemuriforms did not possess the wide-gap autapomorphy; hence, anatomical evidence discussed her...Continue Reading

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Citations

Mar 5, 2015·The Anatomical Record : Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology·Annalisa BertaMeghan Smallcomb
Aug 20, 2015·American Journal of Physical Anthropology·Anne M BurrowsLeanne T Nash
Jan 31, 2007·Journal of Anatomy·James B Rossie, Timothy D Smith
Nov 20, 2013·The Anatomical Record : Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology·Eva C GarrettTimothy D Smith
Dec 19, 2001·American Journal of Physical Anthropology·Judith C Masters, Denis J Brothers
Jun 24, 2020·Integrative and Comparative Biology·Courtney E Gorman, C Darrin Hulsey
Dec 15, 2018·The Anatomical Record : Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology·Anne M BurrowsKeegan R Selig
Feb 16, 2018·Journal of Human Evolution·James B RossieTimothy B Rowe
Jul 10, 2021·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Case Vincent Miller, Michael Pittman

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