The biomechanical importance of the scaphoid-centrale fusion during simulated knuckle-walking and its implications for human locomotor evolution
Püschel, Thomas (University of Oxford. School of Anthropology)
Marcé Nogué, Jordi (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)
Chamberlain, Andrew T. (University of Manchester. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences)
Yoxall, Alaster (Sheffield Hallam University. Art and Design Research Centre)
Sellers, William (University of Manchester. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences)

Data:	2020
Resum:	Inferring the locomotor behaviour of the last common ancestor (LCA) of humans and African apes is still a divisive issue. An African great-ape-like ancestor using knuckle-walking is still the most parsimonious hypothesis for the LCA, despite diverse conflicting lines of evidence. Crucial to this hypothesis is the role of the centrale in the hominoid wrist, since the fusion of this bone with the scaphoid is among the clearest morphological synapomorphies of African apes and hominins. However, the exact functional significance of this fusion remains unclear. We address this question by carrying out finite element simulations of the hominoid wrist during knuckle-walking by virtually generating fused and unfused morphologies in a sample of hominoids. Finite element analysis was applied to test the hypothesis that a fused scaphoid-centrale better withstands the loads derived from knuckle-walking. The results show that fused morphologies display lower stress values, hence supporting a biomechanical explanation for the fusion as a functional adaptation for knuckle-walking. This functional interpretation for the fusion contrasts with the current inferred positional behaviour of the earliest hominins, thus suggesting that this morphology was probably retained from an LCA that exhibited knuckle-walking as part of its locomotor repertoire and that was probably later exapted for other functions.
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Matèria:	Biological anthropology ; Biomechanics
Publicat a:	Scientific reports, Vol. 10 (February 2020) , art. 3526, ISSN 2045-2322

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-60590-6
PMID: 32103129

7 p, 1.5 MB

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