This book challenges the assumption that morphological data are
inherently unsuitable for phylogeny reconstruction, argues that
both molecular and morphological phylogenies should play a major
role in systematics, and provides the most comprehensive review of
the comparative anatomy, homologies and evolution of the head,
neck, pectoral and upper limb muscles of primates. Chapters 1 and 2
provide an introduction to the main aims and methodology of the
book. Chapters 3 and 4 and Appendices I and II present the data
obtained from dissections of the head, neck, pectoral and upper
limb muscles of representative members of all the major primate
groups including modern humans, and compare these data with the
information available in the literature. Appendices I and II
provide detailed textual (attachments, innervation, function,
variations and synonyms) and visual (high quality photographs)
information about each muscle for the primate taxa included in the
cladistic study of Chapter 3, thus providing the first
comprehensive and up to date overview of the comparative anatomy of
the head, neck, pectoral and upper limb muscles of primates. The
most parsimonious tree obtained from the cladistic analysis of 166
head, neck, pectoral and upper limb muscle characters in 18 primate
genera, and in representatives of the Scandentia, Dermoptera and
Rodentia, is fully congruent with the evolutionary molecular tree
of Primates, thus supporting the idea that muscle characters are
particularly useful to infer phylogenies. The combined anatomical
materials provided in this book point out that modern humans have
fewer head, neck, pectoral and upper limb muscles than most other
living primates, but are consistent with the proposal that facial
and vocal communication and specialized thumb movements have
probably played an important role in recent human evolution. This
book will be of interest to primatologists, comparative anatomists,
functional morphologists, zoologists, physical anthropologists, and
systematicians, as well as to medical students, physicians and
researchers interested in understanding the origin, evolution,
homology and variations of the muscles of modern humans. Contains
132 color plates.
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