Morphological Analysis of the Mammalian Postcranium: A Developmental Perspective

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 96; no. 23; pp. 13247 - 13252
• Main Authors: Lovejoy, C. Owen, Cohn, Martin J., White, Tim D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 09-11-1999; National Acad Sciences; National Academy of Sciences; The National Academy of Sciences
• Subjects: Adult; Animal morphology; Animals; Anthropology; Biological Evolution; Biological Sciences; Body conformation; Bone Development; Bones; Cartilage; Cartilage - growth & development; Classification; Evolution; Humans; Joints; Knee - anatomy & histology; Knee - growth & development; Knees; Mammals; Pelvis; Pelvis - anatomy & histology; Pelvis - growth & development; Phenotypic traits; Phylogeny; Skeletal system
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.96.23.13247

The past two decades have greatly improved our knowledge of vertebrate skeletal morphogenesis. It is now clear that bony morphology lacks individual descriptive specification and instead results from an interplay between positional information assigned during early limb bud deployment and its "execution" by highly conserved cellular response programs of derived connective tissue cells (e.g., chondroblasts and osteoblasts). Selection must therefore act on positional information and its apportionment, rather than on more individuated aspects of presumptive adult morphology. We suggest a trait classification system that can help integrate these findings in both functional and phylogenetic examinations of fossil mammals and provide examples from the human fossil record.