Logarithmic growth of the hominoid mandible

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The growth of the basal unit of the mandible was studied by plotting the position, relative to the median plane, of the oval, mandibular and mental foramina in immature and adult skulls of Man, chimpanzee and gorilla. In Man, the basal unit was found to grow out along a constant logarithmic spiral. In the apes, the basal unit grew along a progressively unfolding logarithmic spiral, the amount of unfolding being greater in the gorilla than in the chimpanzee. It is argued that the mode of growth seen in the apes evolved, as these forms became more prognathous, because it requires less compensatory rotation of the mandible, while the mode seen in Man is probably closer to that which occurred in the common ancestral form.

This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit: