Holes in the head: Evolutionary interpretations of the paranasal sinuses in catarrhines

Abstract

Everyone who has ever experienced a head cold is familiar with the paranasal sinuses, the bony hollows above and beside the nasal cavity that contribute, sometimes painfully, to upper respiratory tract disorders. These internal cranial structures have a wide distribution among eutherian mammals and archosaurs.1, 2 Sinuses have languished somewhat in the shadow of their better known and more accessible morphological cousins (dentition, postcrania), but new imaging techniques, growth studies, and explicit phylogenetic evaluation3 are beginning to fill in the gaps in our knowledge of the evolution of these enigmatic spaces in primates and promise to yield insights into the evolution of the facial skeleton.

Minor contributions of the maxillary sinus to the air-conditioning performance in macaque monkeys

“…cooling and regulation of the brain or orbital temperature, reactive reduction of the masticatory load on the cranium, acoustic modifications of nasalized voices, and air conditioning (Shea, 1977;Rae et al, 2003;Rae and Koppe, 2008;Curtis and Van Valkenburgh, 2014;Van Valkenburgh et al, 2014). The paranasal sinus is often thought to reduce the weight of the cranium and save bony materials by eliminating unnecessary bony resources (Rae and Koppe, 2004;Smith et al, 2005;Zollikofer and Weissmann, 2008). Although its biological advantages are still argued, the paranasal sinus is believed to develop opportunistically from the nasal meatus if there are few structural disturbances, in that the pneumatization begins and progresses (Zollikofer and Weissmann, 2008;Smith et al, 2010).…”

“…The maxillary sinus (MS) is one of the paranasal sinuses, which communicates with the middle meatus of the nasal cavity via a narrow opening called the ostium and pneumatizes the maxilla (Rae and Koppe, 2004;Rossie, 2008). This bony sinus is lined with a respiratory mucosa that extends from the nasal cavity through the ostium (Rae and Koppe, 2004;Rossie, 2008).…”

“…This bony sinus is lined with a respiratory mucosa that extends from the nasal cavity through the ostium (Rae and Koppe, 2004;Rossie, 2008). MS pneumatization is always found in macaques and sometimes in baboons and gelada (Papio and Theropithecus), whereas it is absent in other extant Old World monkeys (Koppe and Ohkawa, 1999;.…”

Nasal architecture in <i>Procynocephalus wimani</i> (Early Pleistocene, China) and implications for its phyletic relationship with <i>Paradolichopithecus</i>

“…These findings suggest that the genetic basis for the formation of the maxillary sinus has been secured since the ancestral loss of this feature in phenotype in cercopithecoids; it is usually silent in these two and other genera of Papionina. Although its biological advantages are still argued (Rae and Koppe, 2004;Rossie, 2008;Smith et al, 2010), the maxillary sinus is believed to develop opportunistically from the middle meatus if there are few structural disturbances as the pneumatization begins and progresses (Zollikofer and Weissmann, 2008;Smith et al, 2010). Whereas such disturbances occurring during the perinatal period are yet to be reported, the heterogeneity discovered here could reflect an anatomical variation that has been retained to release such disturbances in the two genera.…”

Nasal Anatomy of Paradolichopithecusgansuensis (Early Pleistocene, Longdan, China) with Comments on Phyletic Relationships among the Species of this Genus

“…Recently, Nishimura et al [2007,2009] examined the internal architecture of the Kuruksay and Senèze crania to test this issue. Among cercopithecines, the maxillary sinus within the cranium occurs only in the crown species of macaques and is regarded as a derived feature [Rae et al, 2002;Rae and Koppe, 2004;Rae, 2008]. Both species, in adults, had a nasal cavity expanding laterally to make a thin maxillary body at the anterior level of the cheek teeth.…”