Evidence of Hominid-Like Precision Grip Capability in the Hand of the Miocene Ape Oreopithecus
Abstract
Functional and allometric analyses of the hand of the late Miocene ape Oreopithecus bambolii (Tuscany, Italy) reveal a series of features that reflect an improved grasping capability including firm pad-to-pad precision gripping that apes are unable to perform. Related features such as hand length, relative thumb length, a deep and large insertion area for the tendon of the long thumb flexor, and the form of the metacarpal 2/capitate articulation are not present in extant or fossil apes. In these features, the Oreopithecus hand closely matches the pattern of early hominids, presumably as a response to similar functional demands.
- Publication:
-
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- January 1999
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.96.1.313
- Bibcode:
- 1999PNAS...96..313M