Geometric similarity and heart weight scaling: an application of White's criterion of similarity.

Heart weight scaling among members of the primate tribe Papionini is analyzed in relation to the proposal that evolutionary size change may sometimes come about in such a way that geometric similarity is maintained across species. The results indicate that in terms of relative heart weight, the six species examined can be divided into two groups of geometric variants. Although these groupings do not conform to any hypothesized phylogenetic relationships, there is some evidence to support the associations based on shared patterns of ontogenetic development. An account is proposed for the differences between the two groups in terms of derived versus primitive patterns of relative heart weight growth.