Month: September 2022

THE SHORT SNOUTS. “Humans and most of our closest extant relatives, the anthropoids, are notable for their reduced “snout.” The striking reduction in facial projection is only a superficial similarity. All anthropoids, including those with long faces (e.g., baboons), have lost numerous internal projections (turbinals) and spaces (recesses). In sum, this equates to the loss of certain regions of olfactory mucosa in anthropoids.” https://lnkd.in/dgtqkTi View in LinkedIn

VESTIGIAL REMNANT. “The vomeronasal system of humans and other catarrhine primates appears to qualify as a “chronological” vestige, one which fulfills part of its function during ontogeny, and then becomes lost or vestigial.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.23035/full View in LinkedIn

REDUCED MIDFACE. “The external appearance of the nasal region in anthropoids, combined with some genetic evidence, has been used to argue that the olfactory sense is particularly reduced in anthropoids compared to other mammals, including lemurs and lorises. Striking external characteristics of the midface in anthropoids and tarsiers, such as the continuity of the upper lip and loss of the rhinarium, are critical traits used to unite the clade Haplorhini (monkeys, apes, humans, and tarsiers).” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.23035/full View in LinkedIn

MIDFACE RECONFIGURATION. “The reduced modern anthropoid midface may be hypothesized to relate, both in an evolutionary and developmental manner, to an altered configuration among the functional matrices that influence midfacial position, including the eye, brain, dentition, and mucosa-lined nasal air spaces. Unknown is the extent to which the anthropoid midface is reoriented, reduced, or both.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.23035/full View in LinkedIn

SIMPLIFIED NASAL REGION. “The internal morphology of the nasal region is so profoundly different between monkeys and strepsirrhine primates that Cave (1973) opined that the latter be removed from the order Primates. Thus, along the entire anterior to posterior axis, the anthropoid nasal cavity is simplified by virtue of reduced turbinal projections.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.23035/full View in LinkedIn

LOSS OF AREA. “Existing data indicates that the absolute olfactory surface area (SA) is dissimilar in anthropoids and strepsirrhines. Anthropoids may possess far less olfactory SA than similarly sized or even smaller sized strepsirrhines.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.23035/full View in LinkedIn

SELECTIVE REDUCTION. “While anthropoids may have olfactory deficits, the reduction is probably selective. One chemosensory system is fundamentally altered in anthropoids. A functional vomeronasal system is clearly lacking in catarrhines, and there is anatomical and genetic evidence for a reduction in some NW anthropoids.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.23035/full View in LinkedIn

RUDIMENT GENES. “The drastically altered phenotype of a “rudiment” can sometimes make us forget the shared significance of reduced anatomical structures: they demonstrate the persistence of genes. This is true even in the absence of demonstrable functionality, as in the case of atavisms. Yet vestiges are more consistently present.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.23035/full View in LinkedIn

The perfect accident of the cross-section of an ancient fossil locked in limestone. View in LinkedIn

REPURPOSING. “A complete survey of the vomeronasal system in humans and other catarrhines reveals some vestiges are best understood as functional hallmarks of a specific time in life history, even though they may disappear or attain a new function later in ontogeny.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.23035/full View in LinkedIn