Final Exam

• P is parietal, F is frontal, T is temporal, S is sphenoid, E is ethmoid, L is lacrimal, N is nasal, Z is zygomatic, Mx is maxilla, Mn is mandible.

  
• F is frontal, P is parietal, E is ethmoid, L is lacrimal, Z is zygomatic, N is nasal, Pr is Premaxilla, Mx is Maxilla, Mn is Mandible

  
• P is parietal, T is temporal, F is frontal, S is sphenoid, N is nasal, Mx is maxilla, Pr is premaxilla, Mn is mandible, L is lacrimal, Z is zygomatic.

  
• P is parietal, F is frontal, O is occipital, S is sphennoid, E is ethmoid, V is vomer, Z is zygomatic, T is temporal, Pl is palatine, L is lacrimal, N is nasal, Mx is maxilla, Mn is mandible

  
• Skull of a cebus (capuchin): P is parietal, F is frontal, O is occipital, S is sphenoid, E is ethmoid, V is vomer, Pl is palatine, L is lacrimal, T is temporal, Z is zygomatic, N is nasal, Pr is premaxilla, Mx is maxilla, Mn is mandible.

  
• Lemur skull: F is frontal, S is sphenoid, E is ethmoid, P is parietal, O is occipital, L is lacrimal, N is nasal, T is temporal, Z is zygomatic, V is vomer, Pr is premaxilla, Mx is maxilla, Mn is mandible

  
• What do you call the point where the middle suture meets the green? Bregma

  
• What is the suture called that separates the green from the orange: Coronal suture.

  
• What is the middle suture in the orange called: sagittal suture

  
• What is the name of the point at the bottom where the middle orange line meets the lambdoid suturea: lambda

  
• What is the name of the suture that separates the orange from the red: Lambdoid suture

  
• Teeth are one of the hardest parts of the body and are the most common element found in the fossil record. Therefore, we must know basic dental anatomy in order to understand primate and mammalian evolution.
• Teeth are found in the maxilla and mandible. There are slightly different form and cusps in the upper and lower jaws.
• The dental formula expresses the number of teeth in each quadrant. It is Incisors, Canines, Premolars, and Molars or ICPM over ICPM.
• The human dental formula is 2.1.2.3.
• There are two sets of teeth: deciduous (milk) dentition and adult (permanent) dentition. The dental formula refers to the adult dentition.
• Molars, in general, are the most differentiated teeth. The great variety in molar form allows them to be used in classification to infer phylogeny, because they are most easily identifiable. The number and position of major cusps is developmentally controlled.
• You can estimate body size, diet, phylogeny etc. all from a single molar.
• Mastication


  the breakdown of food items; chewing
• temporalis


  on side of the skull and inserts onto the coronoid process of hte mandible. One of the muscles of mastication
• Masseter


  from zygomatic arch to the side of the mandible. One of the muscles of mastication.
• What are the two major muscles of mastication?

  Temporalis and Masseter
• What diet creates the biggest chewing muscles?

  Folivore
• The arrow is pointing to the Masseter muscle.

  
• The arrow is pointing to the temporalis muscle.

  
• The muscles of mastication are responsible for many of the distinctive features seen on primate skulls such as the sagittal crest.
• teeth are more heterodont when there is more competition for mates within the social hierarchy.
• the larger the canines, the higher the social competition for mates. If a primate has relatively small canines, you can assume that it is either a monogamous social dynamic, or that it is one male with multiple females.
• Primates, in general, have de-emphasized smell and emphasized vision instead.
• Strepsirrhine primates retain many ancestral characteristics relating to olfaction as an important mode of communication. They often use glands and urine to mark their territory or leave a message.
• Olfaction plays an important role in reproduction, communication, and food evaluation in many primate species.
• Olfactory bulbs


  Organs of smell; lie under the frontal lobes of the brain and receive information from the olfactory nerves.
• Olfactory nerves receive input from turbinates within the nasal cavity.
• Primates rely extensively on vision. They are mammalian visual specialists. Primates are all characterized by at least a postorbital bar and, in anthropoids, post-orbital closure.
• The post orbital bar and post-orbital closure forms a bony ring or socket around the eye. In most mammals, the eye is not completely enclosed in bone. This is possibly to reduce chewing muscle influence on the eyeballs.
• Primates eyes are forward to see better, but the muscle is huge for chewing so it could screw up how we see. This is the leading hypothesis about how the bar and socket compensate for this.
• We can assume a trait has a certain function in a fossil primate if:

  1. There are extant primates which have that trait.
  2. In all living primates which have that trait, the trait has a known function.
  3. There are no reasons for believing that the trait in question evolved before assuming its current function.
• In primate adaptions, we can assume a trait has a certain function in a fossil primate if that trait is highly correlated with that specific function in living animals. Therefore, to understand fossil primates, we must have an understanding of living primates' adaptations.
• Teeth are the primary organs responsible for processing food. Therefore, teeth are specifically adapted in order to process certain foods. This allows us to assess diet accurately even in fossils.
• Frugivore = large, broad incisors