| Popis: |
Cerebralisation, manducatory reduction and bipedalism being the three morphological characteristics of Homo among all other primates, the distances between man and other genera have been studied in each of the three corresponding functional systems, by factorial analysis of a small number of discriminant characters. Modern man is always, in the three systems, separated from all other primates by a clear gap, which never exists between genera. This gap is huge in the hind-limb apparatus, large in manducatory apparatus and quite small in cerebral apparatus. Pongids are never closer to Homo than other simians; they are hardly distinct from other Catarrhini for cranial morphology and anterior manducation. Platyrrhini are the closest to Homo for cerebral cranium morphology. These differences are probably due to distinct antiquities of the trends and/or to distinct evolution rates. Insertion of fossil primates in the analysis would solve the problems. This type of study of separate functional systems should be considered together with ecological variations in space and time (for fossil specimens), in order to get a better understanding of mosaic genesis in primate and human evolution. The present study already underlines the deep originality of the human lineage in its zoological set. |
