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An insightful new work, Function, Phylogeny, and Fossils integrates two practices in paleobiology which are often separated - functional and phylogenetic analysis. The book summarizes the evidence on paleoenvironments at the most important Miocene hominoid sites and relates it to the pertinent fossil record. The contributors present the most up-to-date statements on the functional anatomy and likely behavior of the best known hominoids of this crucial period of ape and human evolution. A key feature is a comprehensive table listing 240 characteristics among 13 genera of living and extinct hominoids.
List of contents
1 Function and Phylogeny in Miocene Hominoids.- 2 Research on Miocene Hominoids and Hominid Origins: The Last Three Decades.- 3 Interrelationships between Functional Morphology and Paleoenvironments in Miocene Hominoids.- 4 The Early Evolution of the Hominoid Face.- 5 Functional and Phylogenetic Features of the Forelimb in Miocene Hominoids.- 6 Functional Anatomy and Phyletic Implications of the Hominoid Trunk and Hindlimb.- 7 Dental Evidence for Diet in Some Miocene Catarrhines with Comments on the Effects of Phylogeny on the Interpretation of Adaptation.- 8 Miocene Hominoid Mandibles: Functional and Phylogenetic Perspectives.- 9 Paleobiological and Phylogenetic Significance of Life History in Miocene Hominoids.- 10 Proconsul: Function and Phylogeny.- 11 Afropithecus: Function and Phylogeny.- 12 On the Relationships and Adaptations of Kenyapithecus, a Large-Bodied Hominoid from the Middle Miocene of Eastern Africa.- 13 The Taxonomy and Phylogenetic Relationships of Sivapithecus Revisited.- 14 Phyletic Affinities and Functional Convergence in Dryopithecus and Other Miocene and Living Hominids.- 15 The Phylogenetic and Functional Implications of Ouranopithecus macedoniensis.- 16 Enigmatic Anthropoid or Misunderstood Ape? The Phylogenetic Status of Oreopithecus bambolii Reconsidered.- 17 Lufengpithecus and Hominoid Phylogeny: Problems in Delineating and Evaluating Phylogenetically Relevant Characters.- 18 Events in Hominoid Evolution.- Geological/Geographic Index.
