Apes' inner ears could hide clues to evolutionary history of hominoids

[msantix]

A study looked at the morphology of the inner ears of living and extinct hominoids (living hominoids includes humans, chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas etc). Using a 3D imaging technique, the team were able to capture the complex shape of the inner ear cavities among 27 species of monkeys and apes including humans, the extinct ape Oreopithecus & the fossil hominim Australopithecus. The findings showed that the shape of these structures reflected the relationship between the species and not how they moved.

 

The findings confirmed that the inner ear of Australopithecus resembled like that in modern humans than other apes, supporting the consistent view of a close evolutionary relationship between Australopithecus and modern humans and that Oreopithecus was a much older species of ape somewhat related to other modern apes.

 

eLife. "Apes' inner ears could hide clues to evolutionary history of hominoids: New findings highlight the potential of the inner ear for reconstructing the early branches of our family tree." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 3 March 2020. 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200303113352.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ffossils_ruins%2Fpaleontology+(Paleontology+News+--+ScienceDaily)

 

The journal article is listed below and is open access

https://elifesciences.org/articles/51261

 

1. Alessandro Urciuoli, Clément Zanolli, Amélie Beaudet, Jean Dumoncel, Frédéric Santos, Salvador Moyà-Solà, David M Alba. The evolution of the vestibular apparatus in apes and humans. eLife, 2020; 9