TY - JOUR
T1 - Adaptationism and the anthropoid postcranium
T2 - Selection does not govern the length of the radial neck
AU - Reno, Philip L.
AU - McCollum, Melanie A.
AU - Lovejoy, Owen O.
AU - Meindl, Richard S.
PY - 2000/1/1
Y1 - 2000/1/1
N2 - The length of the radial neck has been assumed to vary in living and extinct primates in accordance with its role as a moment arm during flexion by the m. biceps brachii. We here use a simple developmental approach to investigate whether or not this trait does, in fact, vary in such a manner. We find, instead, that virtually all variation in radial neck length is explicable as a simple correlate of overall body size, and that there is no evidence to conclude that selection has separately modified radial neck length in response to differing locomotor patterns. Further implications for the interpretation of mammalian skeletal morphology are briefly discussed. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
AB - The length of the radial neck has been assumed to vary in living and extinct primates in accordance with its role as a moment arm during flexion by the m. biceps brachii. We here use a simple developmental approach to investigate whether or not this trait does, in fact, vary in such a manner. We find, instead, that virtually all variation in radial neck length is explicable as a simple correlate of overall body size, and that there is no evidence to conclude that selection has separately modified radial neck length in response to differing locomotor patterns. Further implications for the interpretation of mammalian skeletal morphology are briefly discussed. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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U2 - 10.1002/1097-4687(200011)246:2<59::AID-JMOR2>3.0.CO;2-G
DO - 10.1002/1097-4687(200011)246:2<59::AID-JMOR2>3.0.CO;2-G
M3 - Article
C2 - 11074575
AN - SCOPUS:0033764679
VL - 246
SP - 59
EP - 67
JO - Journal of Morphology
JF - Journal of Morphology
SN - 0362-2525
IS - 2
ER -