Primate facial allometry and interpretations of australopithecine variation.
Pilbeam and Gould have discussed African Plio-Pleistocene hominid evolution in the context of allometry (size-dependent morphological change). These authors demonstrate that some general aspects of australopithecine morphology (tooth, brain and body size) support the hypothesis that certain early African hominids were merely scaled variations of each other at different sizes. They also speculate that the methods applied to these very broad anatomical categories can be extended to more specific and detailed traits, especially in the face and cranium. Such traits underlie most taxonomic and phylogenetic discussions of the early African Hominidae, so it is useful to follow Pilbeam and Gould's lead, as we do here, and investigate the structural differences in the australopithecine face and cranimum in a quantificiable fashion.
D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001699:Biometry; D005147:Facial Bones / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D005580:Fossils; D014644:Genetic Variation; D000882:Haplorhini / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male