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Muscles of the Forearm that Move the Hand and Fingers

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The muscles of the forearm that move the wrist, hand, and digits are numerous and diverse. They can be classified into two groups based on their location and function — the anterior and posterior compartment muscles.
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The anterior compartment muscles originate from the humerus. They primarily function as flexors and are also known as flexor muscles. They typically insert on the carpals, metacarpals, and phalanges. The superficial layer includes the flexor carpi radialis,...

Bones of the Upper Limb: Radius

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The radius is longer of the two bones that make up the human antebrachium or forearm. At the proximal end, the radius articulates with the capitulum of the humerus and the radial notch of the ulna to form the elbow joint. At the distal end, the radius articulates with the ulna via the ulnar notch, forming the distal radioulnar joint. Distally, the radius also attaches to the carpal wrist bones (scaphoid and lunate) to form the radiocarpal joint.
The radius has a nail-shaped head, and a short...

Bones of the Upper Limb: Ulna

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The ulna and radius are parallel bones of the antebrachium or the forearm. The ulna lies medially and consists of a bony tip called the olecranon process at its proximal end. This hook-like projection articulates with the olecranon fossa of the humerus and forms the "hinged" ulnohumeral part of the elbow joint. This joint facilitates forearm extension and flexion while preventing its hyperextension. Similarly, the coronoid process, another bony projection on the proximal/anterior side of the...

Bones of the Upper Limb: Humerus

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The upper limb consists of the arm, forearm, wrist, and hand bones. The humerus is the single bone of the upper arm region. Proximally, it has a large, spherical, smooth head that articulates with the glenoid cavity of the scapula to form the glenohumeral or shoulder joint. The margin of the head is the anatomical neck, a residual epiphyseal plate. Laterally it extends to form bony projections called the greater tubercle and the lesser tubercle. Next to the tubercles is the surgical neck, a...

Muscles that Move the Forearm

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Classification of Bones

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Long and Short Bones
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Behavioral Assessment of Manual Dexterity in Non-Human Primates

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Functional morphology of cercopithecoid primate metacarpals.

Biren A Patel¹

¹Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-8081, USA. Biren.Patel@stonybrook.edu

Journal of Human Evolution

|March 16, 2010

Summary

Investigating fossil primate metacarpals reveals subtle differences between digitigrade (walking on toes) and palmigrade (walking on palms) postures. These subtle distinctions make it challenging to definitively determine a fossil primate's preferred habitat from hand bones alone.

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Area of Science:

Paleoanthropology
Primate functional morphology
Comparative anatomy

Background:

The primate fossil record indicates a higher prevalence of terrestrial lifestyles in the past, especially among cercopithecoid primates.
Determining habitual substrate preference in fossil primates often relies on forelimb anatomy, with digitigrade postures linked to terrestrial locomotion in extant monkeys.

Purpose of the Study:

To identify osteological correlates of digitigrade versus palmigrade hand postures by examining metacarpal functional morphology.
To assess the potential of metacarpal morphology to reveal terrestriality in fossil cercopithecoids.

Main Methods:

Linear measurements of metacarpals from 324 individuals across digitigrade and palmigrade cercopithecoid species.
Comparative analysis of metacarpal dimensions relative to body mass and humerus length.
Multivariate analyses to evaluate metacarpal shape's discriminatory power for hand posture.

Main Results:

Digitigrade taxa exhibit shorter metacarpals relative to body mass and humerus length compared to palmigrade taxa.
Digitigrade taxa tend to have relatively smaller metacarpal dorsoventral diameters.
Metacarpal head size and shape showed no significant differences; multivariate analyses weakly discriminated between posture groups.

Conclusions:

While some metacarpal differences exist, similarities suggest functional plasticity, where even digitigrade primates adopt palmigrade postures.
The subtle and overlapping morphological differences in metacarpals limit the ability to definitively infer specific habitat preferences from fossil primate hand bones.