Shape Ontogeny of the Distal Femur in the Hominidae with Implications for the Evolution of Bipedality

Heterochrony has been invoked to explain differences in the morphology of modern humans as compared to other great apes. The distal femur is one area where heterochrony has been hypothesized to explain morphological differentiation among Plio-Pleistocene hominins. This hypothesis is evaluated here using geometric morphometric data to describe the ontogenetic shape trajectories of extant hominine distal femora and place Plio-Pleistocene hominins within that context. Results of multivariate statistical analyses showed that in both Homo and Gorilla, the shape of the distal femur changes significantly over the course of development, whereas that of Pan changes very little. Development of the distal femur of Homo is characterized by an elongation of the condyles, and a greater degree of enlargement of the medial condyle relative to the lateral condyle, whereas Gorilla are characterized by a greater degree of enlargement of the lateral condyle, relative to the medial. Early Homo and Australopithecus africanus fossils fell on the modern human ontogenetic shape trajectory and were most similar to either adult or adolescent modern humans while specimens of Australopithecus afarensis were more similar to Gorilla/Pan. These results indicate that shape differences among the distal femora of Plio-Pleistocene hominins and humans cannot be accounted for by heterochrony alone; heterochrony could explain a transition from the distal femoral shape of early Homo/A. africanus to modern Homo, but not a transition from A. afarensis to Homo. That change could be the result of genetic or epigenetic factors.

• Publication year

  2016

• Venue

  PLoS ONE

• Publication date

  2016-02-17

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0148371PMID 26886416PMCID 4757424
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• The ontogeny of talo-crural appositional articular morphology among catarrhine taxa: adult shape reflects substrate use.

  2014influential reference
• Forelimb to Hindlimb Shape Covariance in Extant Hominoids and Fossil Hominins

  2013cited by this paper
• When evolution hurts: height, arthritis risk, and the regulatory architecture of GDF5 function

  2012cited by this paper
• MorphoJ: an integrated software package for geometric morphometrics

  2011cited by this paper
• Tbx4 and Tbx5 acting in connective tissue are required for limb muscle and tendon patterning

  2010cited by this paper
• Postcranial variation in Plio-Pleistocene hominins of Africa

  2010cited by this paper
• Independent evolution of knuckle-walking in African apes shows that humans did not evolve from a knuckle-walking ancestor

  2009cited by this paper
• Geochronology of the pre-KBS Tuff sequence, Omo Group, Turkana Basin

  2008cited by this paper
• Facial ontogeny in Neanderthals and modern humans

  2007cited by this paper
• The natural history of human gait and posture. Part 3. The knee.

  2007influential reference
• Use of space in a non-naturalistic environment by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)

  2006cited by this paper
• Pitx1 determines the morphology of muscle, tendon, and bones of the hindlimb.

  2006cited by this paper
• Heterochrony and geometric morphometrics: a comparison of cranial growth in Pan paniscus versus Pan troglodytes

  2005influential reference
• Tbx5 and Tbx4 are not sufficient to determine limb-specific morphologies but have common roles in initiating limb outgrowth.

  2005cited by this paper
• Early developmental arrest of mammalian limbs lacking HoxA/HoxD gene function

  2005cited by this paper
• The evolution of human walking

  2005cited by this paper
• The natural history of human gait and posture. Part 1. Spine and pelvis.

  2005cited by this paper
• A Dual Role for Hox Genes in Limb Anterior-Posterior Asymmetry

  2004cited by this paper
• Geometric morphometrics: Ten years of progress following the ‘revolution’

  2004cited by this paper
• Comparison of cranial ontogenetic trajectories among great apes and humans.

  2004cited by this paper
• Geometric morphometric analyses of extant and fossil hominoid craniofacial morphology

  2003cited by this paper
• Pitx1 and Pitx2 are required for development of hindlimb buds

  2003cited by this paper
• Loss of Tbx4 blocks hindlimb development and affects vascularization and fusion of the allantois

  2003cited by this paper
• Tbx5 is essential for forelimb bud initiation following patterning of the limb field in the mouse embryo

  2003cited by this paper
• Tbx5 is required for forelimb bud formation and continued outgrowth

  2003cited by this paper
• T-box gene tbx5 is essential for formation of the pectoral limb bud

  2002cited by this paper
• Morphometric analysis of ontogeny and allometry of the Middle Ordovician trilobite Triarthrus becki

  2002cited by this paper
• Another look at shape variation in the distal femur of Australopithecus afarensis: implications for taxonomic and functional diversity at Hadar.

  2002cited by this paper
• Recently identified postcranial remains of Paranthropus and early Homo from Swartkrans Cave, South Africa.

  2001cited by this paper
• The evolution of paired appendages in vertebrates: T-box genes in the zebrafish

  2000cited by this paper
• SPATIOTEMPORAL REORGANIZATION OF GROWTH RATES IN THE EVOLUTION OF ONTOGENY

  2000cited by this paper
• GDF5 coordinates bone and joint formation during digit development.

  1999cited by this paper
• Role of the Bicoid-related homeodomain factor Pitx1 in specifying hindlimb morphogenesis and pituitary development.

  1999cited by this paper
• Morphological analysis of the mammalian postcranium: a developmental perspective.

  1999cited by this paper
• Expression and function of Gdf-5 during digit skeletogenesis in the embryonic chick leg bud.

  1999cited by this paper
• Did knuckle walking evolve twice?

  1999cited by this paper
• Role of Pitx1 upstream of Tbx4 in specification of hindlimb identity.

  1999cited by this paper
• Ontogeny and phylogeny of femoro-tibial characters in humans and hominid fossils: functional influence and genetic determinism.

  1999influential reference
• Shape Statistics: Procrustes Superimpositions and Tangent Spaces

  1999cited by this paper
• Short adolescence in early hominids: infantile and adolescent growth of the human femur.

  1998influential reference
• Cartilage‐Derived Morphogenetic Proteins and Osteogenic Protein‐1 Differentially Regulate Osteogenesis

  1998cited by this paper
• Ontogeny of locomotion in mountain gorillas and chimpanzees.

  1997cited by this paper
• Femur ontogeny in humans and great apes: heterochronic implications for hominid évolution

  1997influential reference
• Fossils, genes and the evolution of animal limbs

  1997cited by this paper
• Recombinant human growth/differentiation factor 5 stimulates mesenchyme aggregation and chondrogenesis responsible for the skeletal development of limbs.

  1996cited by this paper
• Hoxa-13 and Hoxd-13 play a crucial role in the patterning of the limb autopod.

  1996cited by this paper
• Evidence of a role for T-☐ genes in the evolution of limb morphogenesis and the specification of forelimb/hindlimb identity

  1996cited by this paper
• Expression of the T‐box family genes, Tbx1–Tbx5, during early mouse development

  1996cited by this paper
• Climate, Heterochrony, and Human Evolution

  1996cited by this paper
• Advances in Morphometrics

  1996cited by this paper
• Paradox of peramorphic paedomorphosis: heterochrony and human evolution.

  1996cited by this paper
• Biomechanical reasons for the divergent morphology of the knee joint and the distal epiphyseal suture in hominoids.

  1996influential reference
• The Nariokotome Homo Erectus Skeleton

  1995cited by this paper
• Effects of body size and social context on the arboreal activities of lowland gorillas in the Central African Republic.

  1995cited by this paper
• Ontogeny of knuckle-walking hand postures in African apes

  1994cited by this paper
• Morphometric tools for landmark data

  1993cited by this paper
• Hox genes and serial homology

  1993cited by this paper
• Dental development and the evolution of life history in hominidae

  1991cited by this paper
• Hindlimb articular surface allometry in hominoidea and Macaca, with comparisons to diaphyseal scaling

  1988cited by this paper
• Evolution of human walking.

  1988cited by this paper
• Evolution of Human Walking

  1988cited by this paper
• Ancestors: The Hard Evidence

  1988cited by this paper
• The biological and chronological maturation of early hominids

  1987cited by this paper
• A guide to the nomenclature of heterochrony

  1986cited by this paper
• The ontogeny of sexual dimorphism in the African apes

  1985cited by this paper
• The locomotor anatomy of Australopithecus afarensis.

  1983cited by this paper
• Ontogeny and Phylogeny

  1980cited by this paper
• Size and shape in ontogeny and phylogeny

  1979cited by this paper
• A new species of the genus Australopithecus (Primates: Hominidae) from the Pliocene of eastern Africa

  1978cited by this paper
• Evidence for an Advanced Plio-Pleistocene Hominid from East Rudolf, Kenya

  1973cited by this paper
• Early Hominid Posture and Locomotion

  1973cited by this paper
• The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology

  1973cited by this paper
• Clinical implications of knee biomechanics.

  1973cited by this paper
• The distal femoral anatomy of Australopithecus.

  1971cited by this paper
• The skull.

  1951cited by this paper

• Systemic versus local patterns of limb joint articular morphology inferred from relative distances from morphological centroid

  2024cites this paper
• Covariance in human limb joint articular morphology.

  2023cites this paper
• Variation in human limb joint articular morphology.

  2023cites this paper
• Meniscus tissue engineering and repair

  2022cites this paper
• Go large or go conical: allometric trajectory of an early Cambrian acrotretide brachiopod

  2021cites this paper
• The relative efficacy of the cranium and os coxa for taxonomic assessment in macaques.

  2020cites this paper
• Investigating the effect of endocranial volume on cranial shape in platyrrhines and the relevance of this relationship to interpretations of the fossil record.

  2019cites this paper
• Trabecular Bone Structure in the Distal Femur of Humans, Apes, and Baboons

  2018influential citation
• Ontogeny and phylogeny of the cercopithecine cranium: A geometric morphometric approach to comparing shape change trajectories.

  2018cites this paper
• Femoral ontogeny in humans and great apes and its implications for their last common ancestor

  2018cites this paper
• The effect of ontogeny on estimates of KNM-WT 15000's adult body size.

  2018cites this paper
• Evolution of the hominin knee and ankle.

  2017cites this paper
• Constructing cranial ontogenetic trajectories: A comparison of growth, development, and chronological age proxies using a known-age sample of Macaca mulatta.

  2016cites this paper