The Evolution of the Primate Hand Anatomical, Developmental, Functional, and Paleontological Evidence

About this book

The Evolution of the Primate Hand demonstrates how the primate hand combines both primitive and novel morphology, both general function with specialization, and both a remarkable degree of diversity within some clades and yet general similarity across many others. Across the chapters, different authors have addressed a variety of specific questions and provided their perspectives, but all explore the main themes described above to provide an overarching "primitive primate hand" thread to The Evolution of the Primate Hand. Each chapter provides an in-depth review and critical account of the available literature, a balanced interpretation of the evidence from a variety of perspectives, and prospects for future research questions. In order to make this a useful resource for researchers at all levels, the basic structure of each chapter is the same, so that information can be easily consulted from chapter to chapter. An extensive reference list is provided at the end of each chapter so the reader has additional resources to address more specific questions or to find specific data.

Contents

Foreword; Mary Marke

1. Introduction; Tracy L. Kivell, Pierre Lemelin, Brian G. Richmond, and Daniel Schmitt
2. On the primitiveness, prehensility, and opposability of the primate hand: the contributions of Frederic Wood Jones and John Russell Napier; Pierre Lemelin and Daniel Schmitt

SECTION I: ANATOMICAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL EVIDENCE
3. The Primate Wrist; Tracy L. Kivell
4. Morphological Diversity in the Digital Rays of Primate Hands; Biren A. Patel and Stephanie A. Maiolino
5. The Role of Genes and Development in the Evolution of the Primate Hand; Campbell Rolian
6. Organization and Evolution of Neural Control of the Hand in Primates: Motor Systems, Sensory Feedback, and Laterality; Andrey Verendeev, Chet C. Sherwood, and William D. Hopkins
7. Anatomy, Function, and Evolution of the Primate Hand Musculature; Pierre Lemelin and Rui Diogo
8. Comparative and Functional Morphology of the Primate Hand Integument; Stephanie A. Maiolino, Amanda K. Kinston and Pierre Lemelin

SECTION II: BIOMECHANICAL, EXPERIMENTAL AND BEHAVIOURAL EVIDENCE
9. Functional Morphology of the Primate Hand: Recent Approaches using Biomedical Imaging, Computer Modeling, and Engineering Methods; Caley M. Orr
10. Experimental Research on Hand Use and Function in Primates; Evie E. Vereecke and Roshna E. Wunderlich
11. Biomechanics of the Human Hand: From Stone Tools to Computer Keyboards; Erin Marie Williams-Hatala
12. Functions of the Hand in Primates; Dorothy M. Fragaszy and Jessica Crast
13. Patterns, Variability, and Flexibility of Hand Posture during Locomotion in Primates; Daniel Schmitt, Angel Zeininger, and Michael Granatosky

SECTION III: PALAEONTOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
14. The Hands of Paleogene Primates; Doug M. Boyer, Gabriel S. Yapuncich, Stephen G. B. Chester, Jonathan I. Bloch, and Marc Godinot
15. The Hands of Subfossil Lemurs; Laurie R. Godfrey, Michael C. Granatosky, and William L. Jungers
16. The Hands of Non-Hominoid Anthropoids; Terry Harrison and Thomas R. Rein
17. The Hands of Miocene Hominoids; Masato Nakatsukasa, Sergio Almecija, and David R. Begun
18. Evolution of the Early Hominin Hand; Brian G. Richmond, Neil Roach, and Kelly Ostrofsky
19. The Evolution of the Hand in Pleistocene Homo; Erik Trinkaus

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