Orthocephalization in the postweaning squirrel monkey

✍ Scribed by Pucciarelli, Héctor M.; Dressino, Vicente

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 55 KB
• Volume: 101
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0002-9483
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-8644(199610)101:2<173::aid-ajpa5>3.0.co;2-3

✦ Synopsis

Twenty male squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus boliuiensis) raised in captivity were allotted to one of the following groups: weanling control ((26) sampled at 6 months of age; young control (C24) fed ad libitum on a control diet and killed at 24 months of age; and malnourished (M24) fed ad libitum on a low-protein diet and sampled at 24 months of age. Cranial points and the lateral semicircular canals were marked. On each skull, a strict lateral teleradiograph was taken, and the lengths of the midsagittal chords and their angles with respect to the vestibular line were measured. Age changed the lengths in about 70% of the chords and more than 50% of the angles. Malnutrition arrested about 50% of the lengths, but the angles were practically not affected. It is concluded that the postweaning Saimiri sciureus undergoes orthocephalization according to a general pattern already observed in rodents and suggested for pongids. Postweaning malnutrition affected growth in size but not shape changes related to the orthocephalization of the Saimiri skull.