ONTOGENY OF THE KNEE-JOINT IN HUMANS, GREAT APES AND FOSSIL HOMINIDS - PELVI-FEMORAL RELATIONSHIPS DURING POSTNATAL-GROWTH IN HUMANS

Results of a study of the femoral bicondylar angle in adult and juveni le humans and great apes are presented, These results raise the questi on of whether or not the measurement reference of this angle is valid. This is because humans and great apes have a very different growth pr ocess of the distal epiphyseal suture of the femur during the period b etween birth and adulthood, The approximately 3 million years old juve nile femoral diaphyses attributed to Australopithecus afarensis (AL 33 3-110 and AL 333-111) were also studied, These specimens show an inser tion of the diaphysis into the epiphysis of the simplified type typica l of modern humans, This region is more convoluted in nonhuman anthrop oids. Pelvifemoral interrelations are investigated through both longit udinal and cross-sectional radiographic studies of 23 human children, Growth changes in bicondylar and collo-diaphyseal angles, total femora l and femoral neck lengths, and interacetabular distance are correlate d with age and to each other. These results are used to demonstrate th e distinctive features of the Australo-pithecus afarensis fossil, AL 2 88-1.