An Overview of Literature on Primates in China

把1870-2001年来自美国"现代灵长类文献题录数据库"、"维普中文数据库"及"中国灵长类研究文献题录"的资料按4个时期(I:1870-1949;Ⅱ:1950-1965;Ⅲ:1966-1977;Ⅳ:1978-2001)分类整理.此外,使用了"科学引文数据库(扩展版)".结果如下:(1)1870-2001年共有20 52篇文献,2个文献数量高峰分别出现于1950-1965和1978-2001年;科研部门所发表的论文占54.2%,并随时间而增加;而国外部门则随之减少.(2)2 052篇文献中,超过9%的文献为SCI所收录,其中1966-1977年被SCI收录的文献百分比最高;在全部被SCI收录的文献中又以科研部门的占优势(59.1%);但国外部门则以其30.1%的文献被SCI收录而领先.(3)统计了灵长类研究9个领域文献百分比及其变化,其中1978-2001间生态学和行为、神经生物学、繁殖和饲养快速发展;化石灵长类、形态学和解剖学减少;分类及分布、细胞及分子进化显得不甚突出;在第Ⅱ时期和第Ⅳ时期疾病防治研究相当多;保护生物学得到越来越多的关注.第Ⅳ时期作者数量最多,但每个作者的文献平均数却不如第Ⅰ时期.一般地说,在SCI收录的作者中以中国作者居多,但在第I时期唯一被SCI收录的作者则是一名外国学者;在第Ⅲ时期外国作者占被收录作者数的60%.

A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF THE ELBOW JOINTS IN 5 SPECIES OF CHINESE MACAQUES

In this paper, we report the findings of a comparative study of the elbow joints of five species of macaque that inhabit China: Macaca assamensis, M. arctoides, M. mulatta, M. thibetana and M. nemestrina. Results of multivariate analyses of size-related variables and indices of the elbow joint suggested that the breadths of the ventral aspect of the trochlea and of the medial epicondyle of the humerus as well as indices describing the head of the radius are important factors for discriminating these species. The elbow joint of M. arctoides was most similar to that of M. thibetana, no doubt reflecting recency of common ancestry and similarity in terrestrial locomotion. The structures of the elbow joints in M. nemestrina and assamensis seemed more adapted to arboreal quadrupedalism. The elbow joint of M. mulatta, however, appears intermediate between the most terrestrial and the most arboreal forms.

SCALING OF LIMB PROPORTIONS AND LIMB BONE DIAMETERS IN 3 SPECIES OF CHINESE SNUB-NOSED LANGURS (GENUS RHINOPITHECUS)

In this study, aspects of the structural mechanics of the upper and lower limbs of the three Chinese species of Rhinopithecus were examined. Linear regression and reduced major axis (RMA) analyses of natural log-transformed data were used to examine the dimensions of limb bones and other relationships to body size and locomotion. The results of this study suggest that: (1) the allometry exponents of the lengths of long limbs deviate from isometry, being moderately negative, while the shaft diameters (both sagittal and transverse) show significantly positive allometry; (2) the sagittal diameters of the tibia and ulna show extremely significantly positive allometry - the relative enlargement of the sagittal, as opposed to transverse, diameters of these bones suggests that the distal segments of the fore- and hindlimbs of Rhinopithecus experience high bending stresses during locomotion; (3) observations of Rhinopithecus species in the field indicate that all species engage in energetic leaping during arboreal locomotion. The limbs experience rapid and dramatic decelerations upon completion of a leap. We suggest that these occasional decelerations produce high bending stresses in the distal limb segments and so account for the hypertrophy of the sagittal diameters of the ulna and tibia.