Covariation of fetal skull and maternal pelvis during the perinatal period in rhesus macaques and evolution of childbirth in primates

Abstract

A large brain combined with an upright posture in humans has resulted in a high cephalopelvic proportion and frequently obstructed labor. Fischer and Mitteroecker [B. Fischer, P. Mitteroecker, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 112, 5655-5660 (2015)] proposed that the morphological covariations between the skull and pelvis could have evolved to ameliorate obstructed labor in humans. The availability of quantitative data of such covariation, especially of the fetal skull and maternal pelvis, however, is still scarce. Here, we present direct evidence of morphological covariations between the skull and pelvis using actual mother-fetus dyads during the perinatal period of Macaca mulatta, a species that exhibits cephalopelvic proportions comparable to modern humans. We analyzed the covariation of the three-dimensional morphology of the fetal skull and maternal pelvis using computed tomography-based models. The covariation was mostly observed at the pelvic locations related to the birth canal, and the forms of the birth canal and fetal skull covary in such a way that reduces obstetric difficulties. Therefore, cephalopelvic covariation could have evolved not only in humans, but also in other primate taxa in parallel, or it could have evolved already in the early catarrhines.