Mandibular shape analysis in fossil hominins: Fourier descriptors in norma lateralis.

Biological shape can be defined as the boundary of a form in 2-space (R(2)). An earlier study (Lestrel et al., 2010, HOMO-J.

Longitudinal study of cranial base shape changes in Macaca nemestrina.

The primate cranial base (CB) represents a complex irregular structure even when limited to two dimensions, making it difficult to describe quantitatively using the conventional metrical approach composed of angles and distances. Consequently, a curve-fitting procedure, elliptical Fourier functions (EFF), was utilized, which accurately defines the form of complex two-dimensional morphologies. A longitudinal Macaca nemestrina sample consisting of 14 females and 15 males was utilized.