Ape-like locomotor adaptations in the radius of the stem catarrhine Pliobates shed light on hominoid evolution

was more adapted for climbing than forelimb-dominated suspension and unable to perform gibbon-like ricochetal brachiation. Our results illustrate the mosaic and stepwise evolution of the catarrhine elbow and support the view that an apelike proximal radial morphology evolved multiple times as a climbing rather than suspensory adaptation. This agrees with the possibility that several features of the hominoid elbow were originally selected for climbing and subsequently co-opted for suspensory locomotion.