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Biomedical subjects

M H Day

Publications and source records attributed to M H Day.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

A new hominid fossil skull (L.H. 18) from the Ngaloba Beds, Laetoli, northern Tanzania.

In 1976, a fossil hominid skull was recovered from the Ngaloba Beds at Laetoli, Northern Tanzania; its morphology is discussed here. The discovery of this skull is of great interest and importance because of its very substantial presumed antiquity and its largely anatomically modern morphology. The discovery has considerable implications for the antiquity and origin of modern Homo sapiens, a subject of longstanding interest and one which has gained renewed attention recently.

Animals

New hominids from East Turkana, Kenya.

Thirty-five new fossil hominid specimens are described. They were recovered from the Plio-Pleistocene sediments to the east of Lake Turkana (formerly Lake Rudolf). They include cranial and mandibular parts, teeth, and postcranial bones of upper and lower limbs. Parts of a single skeleton are also described. All of the specimens are described in anatomical detail and selected measurements are given. Some of the specimens are illustrated. It is proposed that they should be attributed to the family Hominidae, with genus and species undetermined until detailed comparative studies have been undertaken.

Animals

New hominids from East Rudolf, Kenya, I.

Important new hominid fossils from the Plio-Pleistocene sediments of Lake Rudolf, Kenya, are described. They include: a partial, adult cranium with most of the calvaria and some of the facial skeleton preserved; a complete right femur; and bones of a single left lower limb--femur and upper and lower parts of the tibia and a small portion of fibula. Detailed comparative descriptions will be published later.

Animals

Sexual differentiation in the innominate bone studied by multivariate analysis.

A series of 60 innominate bones of known age and sex were measured producing 17 absolute measurements from which 7 indices were created. These bones were used in forming reference groups to develop a computer-applied discriminant function for sexual allocation. One set of data was discarded because the sexual attribution of the bone was found to be inadequate. From the remaining 59 bones 58 were sexed correctly when the discrininant function was applied to them retrospectively; 54 were sexed correctly with a probability exceeding 0.95. It is likely, however, that the accuracy achieved here would not be reached by applying information from this reference group to new material.

Age Factors

The contrahens muscle layer in Tarsius.

The dissection of five hands from four specimens of Tarsius sp. revealed an elaborate contrahens muscle group that may facilitate the specialised grip pattern in this form. Long muscle slips arise from the palm and pass to the distal phalanges of the digits. In addition, short muscle slips pass from one digit to the proximal phalanx of an adjacent digit.

Animals