We are studying ontogenetic trajectories of cranium in extant primates. Among the sample, we did not find infant specimens (with partial or absent deciduous dentition) of the species Gorilla gorilla, Hylobates agilis, Hylobates lar, Macaca cyclopis, Mandrillus sphinx, Pan troglodytes, Papio hamadryas, Pongo abelii, Pongo pygmaeus and Symphalangus syndactilus. We used some online databases as Morphosource and Kupri, but did not find the specimens we were searching for. Is anyone aware of existing CT or surface scans of such specimens?
Dear Costantino,
I did find some specimens that would suit your purpose in the ESRF database (http://paleo.esrf.fr/). In the section vertebrate biology/primates/Hominoids you will find specimens of G. gorilla, P. troglodytes and P. pygmaeus, among which some microCT scans of infant and juvenile individuals are available. Although they are indicated as photos, when you open each specimen you can download the CT files from the list below the picture (look for "Original slices"), provided that you are logged in.
Another interesting database is CARTA (https://carta.anthropogeny.org/). They have CT scans of P. troglodytes, some with associated data. Unfortunately they do not provide any infant so far. You could ask them if they are planning to add non-adult specimens, since the browsing panel in the database allows filtering by age group.
I will let you know if I find anything else.
Best
Alessio
Good afternoon. I recently put online synchrotron data of hominoids infants and juveniles on the ESRF public database as mentioned by Alessio Veneziano. A bit more is coming in a few weeks/months for other primates. Most of this material comes from the Musée des Confluences de Lyon (France), but unfortunately, there is often no information on precise origine and age of the specimens.
Thank you very much for the useful answers. I'll look after the new additions to the ESRF database, that is already proving to be a great resource for my study.
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