8: Primate Evolution
- Last updated
- Save as PDF
- Page ID
- 66712
Jonathan M. G. Perry, Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Stephanie L. Canington, B.A., The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Learning Objectives
- Understand the major trends in primate evolution from the origin of primates to the origin of our own species.
- Learn about primate adaptations and how they characterize major primate groups.
- Discuss the kinds of evidence that anthropologists use to find out how extinct primates are related to each other and to living primates.
- Recognize how the changing geography and climate of Earth have influenced where and when primates have thrived or gone extinct.
The first fifty million years of primate evolution was a series of adaptive radiations leading to the diversification of the earliest lemurs, monkeys, and apes. The primate story begins in the canopy and understory of conifer-dominated forests, with our small, furtive ancestors subsisting at night, beneath the notice of day-active dinosaurs.
From the archaic plesiadapiforms (archaic primates) to the earliest groups of true primates (euprimates), the origin of our own order is characterized by the struggle for new food sources and microhabitats in the arboreal setting. Climate change forced major extinctions as the northern continents became increasingly dry, cold, and seasonal and as tropical rainforests gave way to deciduous forests, woodlands, and eventually grasslands. Lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers—once diverse groups containing many species—became rare, except for lemurs in Madagascar where there were no anthropoid competitors and perhaps few predators. Meanwhile, anthropoids (monkeys and apes) emerged in the Old World, then dispersed across parts of the northern hemisphere, Africa, and ultimately South America. Meanwhile, the movement of continents, shifting sea levels, and changing patterns of rainfall and vegetation contributed to the developing landscape of primate biogeography, morphology, and behavior. Today’s primates provide modest reminders of the past diversity and remarkable adaptations of their extinct relatives. This chapter explores the major trends in primate evolution from the origin of the Order Primates to the beginnings of our own lineage, providing a window into these stories from our ancient past.
Review Questions
- Compare three major hypotheses about primate origins, making reference to each one’s key ecological reason for primate uniqueness.
- Explain how changes in temperature, rainfall, and vegetation led to major changes in primate biogeography over the Early Tertiary.
- List some euprimate features that plesiadapiforms have and some that they lack.
- Contrast adapoids and omomyoids in terms of life habits.
- Describe one piece of evidence for each of the adapoid, omomyoid, and tarsier origin hypotheses for anthropoids.
- Discuss the biogeography of the origins of African great apes and orangutans using examples from the Miocene ape fossil record.
About the Authors
Jonathan Perry
Jonathan Perry was trained as a paleontologist and primatologist at the University of Alberta, Duke University, and Stony Brook University. His research focuses on the relationship between food, feeding, and craniodental anatomy in primates both living and extinct. This work includes primate feeding behavior, comparative anatomy, biomechanics, and field paleontology. For the past six years, he has taught courses on primate evolution at the undergraduate and graduate level.
Stephanie Canington
Stephanie Canington is a Ph.D. student. Her current research is on the links between food properties, feeding behavior, and jaw morphology in lemurs that live in varying forms of captivity.
For Further Exploration
Beard, Chris 2004. The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey: Unearthing the Origins of Monkeys, Apes, and Humans. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Begun, David R. 2010. Miocene Hominids and the Origins of the African Apes and Humans. Annual Review of Anthropology 39: 67–84.
Fleagle, John G. 2013. Primate Adaptation and Evolution. Third edition. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Gebo, Daniel L., ed. 1993. Postcranial Adaptations in Nonhuman Primates. Dekalb: Northern Illinois University Press.
Godfrey, Laurie R., and William L. Jungers. 2002. Quaternary Fossil Lemurs. In The Primate Fossil Record, edited by Walter C. Hartwig, 97–121. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Godinot, Marc. 2006. Lemuriform Origins as Viewed from the Fossil Record. Folia Primatologica 77 (6): 446–464.
Kay, Richard F. 2018. 100 Years of Primate Paleontology. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 165 (4): 652–676.
Marivaux, Laurent. 2006. The Eosimiid and Amphipithecid Primates (Anthropoidea) from the Oligocene of the Bugti Hills (Balochistan, Pakistan): New Insight into Early Higher Primate Evolution in South Asia. Palaeovertebrata, Montpellier 34 (1–2): 29–109.
Martin, R. D. 1990. Primate Origins and Evolution, a Phylogenetic Reconstruction. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Rose, Kenneth D., Marc Godinot, and Thomas M. Bown. 1994. The Early Radiation of Euprimates and the Initial Diversification of Omomyidae. In Anthropoid Origins: The Fossil Evidence, edited by John G. Fleagle and Richard F. Kay, 1–28. New York: Plenum Press.
Ross, Callum F. 1999. How to Carry Out Functional Morphology. Evolutionary Anthropology 7 (6): 217–222.
Seiffert, Erik R. 2012. Early Primate Evolution in Afro-Arabia. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 21: 239–253.
Szalay, Frederic S., and Eric Delson. 1979. Evolutionary History of the Primates. New York: Academic Press.
Ungar, Peter S. 2002. Reconstructing the Diets of Fossil Primates. In Reconstructing Behavior in the Primate Fossil Record, edited by Joseph Plavcan, Richard F. Kay, William Jungers, and Carel P. van Schaik, 261–296. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
References
Agustí, J., A. Sanz de Siria, and M. Garcés M. 2003. Explaining the End of the Hominoid Experiment in Europe. Journal of Human Evolution 45 (2): 145–153.
Alba, David M., Sergio Almécija, Daniel DeMiguel, Josep Fortuny, Miriam Pérez de los Ríos, Marta Pina, Josep M. Robles, and Salvador Moyà-Solà. 2015. Miocene Small-Bodied Ape from Eurasia Sheds Light on Hominoid Evolution. Science 350 (6,260): aab2625.
Andrews, Peter, and Lawrence Martin. 1991. Hominoid Dietary Evolution. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 334 (1,270): 199–209.
Antoine, Pierre-Oliver, Laurent Marivaux, Darren A. Croft, Guillaume Billet, Morgan Ganerød, Carlos Jaramillo, Thomas Martin, et al. 2012. Middle Eocene Rodents From Peruvian Amazonia Reveal the Pattern and Timing of Caviomorph Origins and Biogeography. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 279 (1,732): 1,319–1,326.
Beard, K. Christopher. 1990. Gliding Behaviour and Palaeoecology of the Alleged Primate Family Paromomyidae (Mammalia, Dermoptera). Nature 345 (6,273): 340–341.
———. 2002. Basal anthropoids. In The Primate Fossil Record, edited by William C. Hartwig, 133–150. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Beard, K. Christopher, and R. D. E. MacPhee. 1994. Cranial Anatomy of Shoshonius and the Antiquity of Anthropoidea. In Anthropoid Origins: The Fossil Evidence, edited by John G. Fleagle and Richard F. Kay, 55–98. New York: Plenum Press.
Beard, K. Christopher, Laurent Marivaux, Soe Thura Tun, Aung Naing Soe, Yaowalak Chaimanee, Wanna Htoon, Bernard Marandat, Htun Htun Aung, and Jean-Jacques Jaeger. 2007. New Sivaladapid Primates From the Eocene Pondaung Formation of Myanmar and the Anthropoid Status of Amphipithecidae. Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History 39: 67–76.
Beard, K. Christopher, Tao Qi, Mary R. Dawson, Banyue Wang, and Chuankuei Li. 1994. A Diverse New Primate Fauna From Middle Eocene Fissure-Fillings in Southeastern China. Nature 368 (6,472): 604–609.
Beard, K. Christopher, Yongsheng Tong, Mary R. Dawson, Jingwen Wang, and Xueshi Huang. 1996. Earliest Complete Dentition of an Anthropoid Primate From the Late Middle Eocene of Shanxi Province, China. Science 272 (5,258): 82–85.
Beecher, Robert M. 1983. Evolution of the Mandibular Symphysis in Notharctinae (Adapidae, Primates). International Journal of Primatology 4 (1): 99–112.
Begun, David R. 2002. European Hominoids. In The Primate Fossil Record, edited by William C. Hartwig, 339–368. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
———. 2003. Planet of the Apes. Scientific American 289 (2): 74–83.
———. 2007. Fossil Record of Miocene Hominoids. In Handbook of Paleoanthropology, edited by Winfried Henke and Ian Tattersall, 921–977. New York: Springer.
Benefit, Brenda R., and Monte L. McCrossin. 1997. Earliest Known Old World Monkey Skull. Nature 388 (6,640): 368–371.
———. 2015. A Window Into Ape Evolution. Science 350 (6,260): 515–516.
Bloch, Jonathan I., and David M. Boyer. 2002. Grasping Primate Origins. Science 298 (5,598): 1,606–1,610.
———. 2007. New Skeletons of Paleocene-Eocene Plesiadapiformes: A Diversity of Arboreal Positional Behaviors in Early Primates. In Primate Origins: Adaptations and Evolution, edited by Matthew J. Ravosa and Marian Dagosto, 535–581. New York: Springer.
Bloch, Jonathan I., and Mary T. Silcox. 2001. New Basicrania of Paleocene-Eocene Ignacius: Re-evaluation of the Plesiadapiform-Dermopteran Link. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 116 (3): 184–198.
———. 2006. Cranial Anatomy of the Paleocene Plesiadapiform Carpolestes simpsoni (Mammalia, Primates) Using Ultra High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography, and the Relationships of Plesiadapiforms to Euprimates. Journal of Human Evolution: 50 (1), 1–35.
Bloch, Jonathan I., Mary T. Silcox, Doug M. Boyer, and Eric J. Sargis. 2007. New Paleocene Skeletons and the Relationship of Plesiadapiforms to Crown-Clade Primates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104 (4): 1,159–1,164.
Blue, Kathleen T., Monte L. McCrossin, and Brenda R. Benefit. 2006. Terrestriality in a Middle Miocene Context: Victoriapithecus from Maboko, Kenya. In Human Origins and Environmental Backgrounds, edited by Hidemi Ishida, Russell Tuttle, Martin Pickford, Naomichi Ogihara, and Masato Nakatsukasa, 45–58. New York: Springer.
Bocherens, Hervé, Friedemann Schrenk, Yaowalak Chaimanee, Ottmar Kullmer, Doris Mörike, Diana Pushkina, and Jean-Jacques Jaeger. 2017. Flexibility of Diet and Habitat in Pleistocene South Asian Mammals: Implications for the Fate of the Giant Fossil Ape Gigantopithecus. Quaternary International 434 (A): 148–155.
Bond, Mariano, Marcelo F. Tejedor, Kenneth E. Campbell Jr., Laura Chornogubsky, Nelson Novo, and Francisco Goin. 2015. Eocene Primates of South America and the African Origins of New World Monkeys. Nature 520 (7,548): 539–541.
Bown, T. M., and M. J. Kraus. 1988. Geology and Paleoenvironment of the Oligocene Jebel Qatrani Formation and Adjacent Rocks, Fayum Depression, Egypt. Professional Paper, 1452. Washington D.C.: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Papers.
Cachel, Susan. 2015. Fossil Primates. Vol. 69. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cameron, David W. 1997. A Revised Systematic Scheme for the Eurasian Miocene Fossil Hominidae. Journal of Human Evolution 33 (4): 449–477.
Cartmill, Matt. 1972. Arboreal Adaptations and the Origin of the Order Primates. In The Functional and Evolutionary Biology of Primates, edited by Russell Tuttle, 97–122. Chicago: Aldine-Atherton.
———. 1974. Rethinking Primate Origins. Science 184 (4,135): 436–443.
Cartmill, Matt, and Richard F. Kay. 1978. Craniodental Morphology, Tarsier Affinities, and Primate Suborders. In Recent Advances in Primatology: Evolution, edited by D. J. Chivers and K. A. Joysey, 205–214. London: Academic Press.
Casanovas-Vilar, Isaac, David M. Alba, Miguel Garcés, Josep M. Robles, and Salvador Moyà-Solà. 2011. Updated chronology for the Miocene hominoid radiation in Western Eurasia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108 (14): 5,554-5,559. doi:10.1073/pnas.1018562108
Chaimanee, Yaowalak, Olivier Chavasseau, K. Christopher Beard, Aung Aung Kyaw, Aung Naing Soe, Chit Sein, Vincent Lazzari, et al. 2012. Late Middle Eocene Primate from Myanmar and the Initial Anthropoid Colonization of Africa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesof the United States of America 109 (26): 10,293–10,297.
Chester, Stephen G. B., Jonathan I. Bloch, Doug M. Boyer, and William A. Clemens. 2015. Oldest Known Euarchontan Tarsals and Affinities of Paleocene Purgatorius to Primates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112 (5): 1,487–1,492.
Ciochon, Russell L., and Gregg F. Gunnell. 2002. Chronology of Primate Discoveries in Myanmar: Influences on the Anthropoid Origins Debate. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 45: 2–35.
Ciochon, R. L., D. R. Piperno, and R. G. Thompson. 1990. Opal Phytoliths Found on the Teeth of the Extinct Ape Gigantopithecus blacki: Implications for Paleodietary Studies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 87 (20): 8,120–8,124.
Clemens, William A. 2004. Purgatorius (Plesiadapiformes, Primates?, Mammalia), a Paleocene Immigrant Into Northeastern Montana: Stratigraphic Occurrences and Incisor Proportions. Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History 36: 3–13.
Cooke, Siobhán B., Justin T. Gladman, Lauren B. Halenar, Zachary S. Klukkert, and Alfred L. Rosenberber. 2016. The Paleobiology of the Recently Extinct Platyrrhines of Brazil and the Caribbean. In Molecular Population Genetics, Evolutionary Biology and Biological Conservation of Neotropical Primates, edited by Manuel Ruiz-Garcia and Joseph Mark Shostell, 41–89. New York: Nova Publishers.
DeLeon, Valerie B., Timothy D. Smith, and Alfred L. Rosenberger. 2016. Ontogeny of the Postorbital Region in Tarsiers and Other Primates. Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology 299 (12): 1,631–1,645.
DeMiguel, Daniel, David M. Alba, and Salvador Moyà-Solà. 2014. Dietary specialization during the evolution of western Eurasian hominoids and the extinction of European great apes. PLoS ONE 9 (5): e97442. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0097442
Dunn, Rachel H., Kenneth D. Rose, Rajendra Rana, Kishore Kumar, Ashok Sahni, and Thierry Smith. 2016. New Euprimate Postcrania From the early Eocene of Gujarat, India, and the Strepsirrhine–Haplorhine Divergence. Journal of Human Evolution 99: 25–51.
Fleagle, John G. 2013. Primate Adaptation and Evolution, Third Edition. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Fleagle, John G., and Richard F. Kay. 1994. Anthropoid Origins. New York: Plenum Press.
Fleagle, John G., and Elwyn L. Simons. 1995. Limb Skeleton and Locomotor Adaptations of Apidiumphiomense, an Oligocene Anthropoid from Egypt. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 97 (3): 235–289.
Franzen, Jens Lorenz. 1994. The Messel Primates and Anthropoid Origins. In Anthropoid Origins: The Fossil Evidence, edited by John G. Fleagle and Richard F. Kay, 99–122. New York: Plenum Press.
Franzen, Jens Lorenz, Phillip D. Gingerich, Jörg Habersetzer, Jørn Hurum, von Wighart Koenigswald, and B. Holly Smith. 2009. Complete Primate Skeleton From the Middle Eocene of Messel in Germany: Morphology and Paleobiology. PLoS ONE 4 (5): e5723.
Gebo, Daniel L., and Elwyn L. Simons. 1987. Morphology and Locomotor Adaptations of the Foot in Early Oligocene Anthropoids. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 74 (1): 83–101.
Gebo, Daniel L., Marian Dagosto, K. Christopher Beard, Tao Qi, and Jingwen Wang. 2000. The Oldest Known Anthropoid Postcranial Fossils and the Early Evolution of Higher Primates. Nature 404 (6,775): 276–278.
Gingerich, P. D. 1980. Eocene Adapidae, Paleobiogeography, and the Origin of South American Platyrrhini. In Evolutionary Biology of the New World Monkeys and Continental Drift, edited by Russell L. Ciochon and A. Brunetto Chiarelli, 123–138. New York: Plenum Press.
Godfrey, Laurie R., and William L. Jungers. 2002. Quaternary Fossil Lemurs. In The Primate Fossil Record, edited by Walter C. Hartwig, 97–121. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Godinot, Marc. 2006. Lemuriform Origins As Viewed From the Fossil Record. Folia Primatologica 77 (6): 446–464.
Gregory, William K. 1920. On the Structure and Relations of Notharctus, an American Eocene Primate. Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History (N.S.) 3 (2): 45–243.
Gunnell, Gregg F., Doug M. Boyer, Anthony R. Friscia, Steven Heritage, Frederik Kyalo Manthi, Ellen R. Miller, Hesham M. Sallam, Nancy B. Simmons, Nancy J. Stevens, and Erik R. Seiffert. 2018. Fossil Lemurs From Egypt and Kenya Suggest an African Origin for Madagascar’s Aye-aye. Nature Communications 9 (3,193): 1–12.
Harrison, Terry. 2010. Apes Among the Tangled Branches of Human Origins. Science 327 (5,965): 532–534.
———. 2016. The Fossil Record and Evolutionary History of Hylobatids. In Evolution of Gibbons and Siamang, edited by Ullrich H. Reichard, Hirohisa Hirai, and Claudia Barelli, 91–110. New York: Springer.
Ibrahim, Yasamin Kh., Lim Tze Tshen, Kira E. Westaway, Earl of Cranbrook, Louise Humphrey, Ross Fatihah Muhammad, Jian-xin Zhao, and Lee Chai Peng. 2013. First Discovery of Pleistocene Orangutan (Pongo sp.) Fossils in Peninsular Malaysia: Biogeographic and Paleoenvironmental Implications. Journal of Human Evolution 65 (6): 770–797.
Israfil, Hulya, Sarah M. Zehr, Alan R. Mootnick, Maryellen Ruvolo, and Michael E. Steiper. 2011. Unresolved molecular phylogenies of gibbons and siamangs (Family: Hylobatidae) based on mitochondrial, Y-linked, and X-linked loci indicate a rapid Miocene radiation or sudden vicariance event. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 58 (3): 447–455.
Jablonski, Nina G., and George Chaplin. 2009. The Fossil Record of Gibbons. In The Gibbons, edited by Danielle Whittaker and Susan Lappan, 111–130. New York: Springer.
Jones, F. Wood. 1916. Arboreal Man. London: Edward Arnold.
Kay, Richard F. 1977. Diets of Early Miocene African Hominoids. Nature 268 (5,621): 628–630.
———. 2015. Biogeography in Deep Time: What Do Phylogenetics, Geology, and Paleoclimate Tell Us about Early Platyrrhine Evolution? Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 82 (B): 358–374.
Kay, Richard F., and John G. Fleagle. 2010. Stem Taxa, Homoplasy, Long Lineages, and the Phylogenetic Position of Dolichocebus. Journal of Human Evolution 59 (2): 218–222.
Kay, Richard F., Jonathan M. G. Perry, Michael Malinzak, Kari L. Allen, E. Christopher Kirk, J. Michael Plavcan, and John G. Fleagle. 2012. Paleobiology of Santacrucian Primates. In Early Miocene Paleobiology in Patagonia: High-Latitude Paleocommunities of the Santa Cruz Formation, edited by Sergio F. Vizcaíno, Richard F. Kay, and M. Susana Bargo, 306–330. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kay, Richard F., Daniel O Schmitt, Christopher J. Vinyard, Jonathan M. G. Perry, Nobuo Shigehara, Masanaru Takai, and Naoko Egi. 2004. The paleobiology of Amphipithecidae, South Asian late Eocene primates. Journal of Human Evolution 46 (1): 3–25.
Kay, Richard F., and Elwyn L. Simons. 1980. The Ecology of Oligocene African Anthropoidea. International Journal of Primatology 1 (1): 21–37.
Kay, Richard F., Richard W. Thorington, and Peter Houde. 1990. Eocene Plesiadapiform Shows Affinities With Flying Lemurs Not Primates. Nature 345 (6,273): 342–344.
Kelley, Jay. 2002. The Hominoid Radiation in Asia. In The Primate Fossil Record, edited by Walter C. Hartwig, 369–384. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kirk, E. Christopher, and Elwyn L. Simons. 2001. Diets of fossil primates From the Fayum Depression of Egypt: A Quantitative Analysis of Molar Shearing. Journal of Human Evolution 40 (3): 203–229.
Kirk, E. Christopher, and Blythe A. Williams. 2011. New Adapiform Primate of Old World Affinities From the Devil’s Graveyard Formation of Texas. Journal of Human Evolution 61 (2): 156–168.
Krause, David W. 1991. Were Paromomyids Gliders? Maybe, Maybe Not. Journal of Human Evolution 21 (3): 177–188.
Kunimatsu, Yutaka, Masato Nakatsukasa, Yoshihiro Sawada, Tetsuya Sakai, Masayuki Hyodo, Hironobu Hyodo, Tetsumaru Itaya, et al. 2007. A New Late Miocene Great Ape From Kenya and Its Implications for the Origins of African Great Apes and Humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104 (49): 19,220–19,225.
Maclatchy, Laura. 2004. The Oldest Ape. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 13 (3): 90–103.
Marivaux, Laurent, Yaowalak Chaimanee, Stéphane Ducrocq, Bernard Marandat, Jean Sudre, Aung Naing Soe, Soe Thura Tun, Wanna Htoon, and Jean-Jacques Jaeger. 2003. The Anthropoid Status of a Primate from the Late Middle Eocene Pondaung Formation (Central Myanmar): Tarsal Evidence. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100 (23): 13,173–13,178.
Marivaux, Laurent, Anusha Ramdarshan, El Mabrouk Essid, Wissem Marzougui, Hayet Khayati Ammar, Renaud Lebrun, Bernard Marandat, Gilles Merzeraud, Rodolphe Tabuce, and Monique Vianey-Liaud. 2013. Djebelemur, a Tiny Pre-ToothCombed Primate from the Eocene of Tunisia: A Glimpse into the Origin of Crown Strepsirrhines. PLoS ONE 8 (12): e80778.
Martin, R. D. 1968. Towards a New Definition of Primates. Man (N.S.) 3 (3): 377–401.
———. 1972. Adaptive Radiation and Behaviour of the Malagasy Primates. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 264 (862): 295–352.
———. 1990. Primate Origins and Evolution, a Phylogenetic Reconstruction. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
McBrearty, Sally, and Nina G. Jablonski. 2005. First Fossil Chimpanzee. Nature 437 (7,055): 105–108.
Michel, Lauren A., Daniel J. Peppe, James A. Lutz, Stephen G. Driese, Holly M. Dunsworth, William E. H. Harcourt-Smith, William H. Horner, Thomas Lehmann, Sheila Nightingale, and Kieran P. McNulty. 2014. Remnants of an Ancient Forest Provide Ecological Context for Early Miocene Fossil Apes. Nature Communications 5: 3,236.
Miller, E. R., B. R. Benefit, M. L. McCrossin, J. M. Plavcan, M. G. Leakey, A. N. El-Barkooky, M. A. Hamdan, M. K. A. Gawad, S. M. Hassan, and E. L. Simons. 2009. Systematics of Early and Middle Miocene Old World Monkeys. Journal of Human Evolution 57 (3): 195–211.
Moyà-Solà, Salvadore, David M. Alba, Sergio Almécija, Isaac Casanovas-Vilar, Meike Köhler, Soledad De Esteban-Trivigno, Josep M. Robles, Jordi Galindo, and Josep Fortuny. 2009. A Unique Middle Miocene European Hominoid and the Origins of the Great Ape and Human Clade. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106 (24): 9,601–9,606.
Moyà-Solà, Salvador, Meike Köhler, David M. Alba, Isaac Casanovas-Vilar, and Jordi Galindo. 2004. Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, a New Middle Miocene Great Ape from Spain. Science 306 (5,700): 1,339–1,344.
Ni, Xijun, Daniel L. Gebo, Marian Dagosto, Jin Meng, Paul Tafforeau, John J. Flynn, and K. Christopher Beard. 2013. The Oldest Known Primate Skeleton and Early Haplorhine Evolution. Nature 498 (7,452): 60–64.
Perry, Jonathan M. G., Richard F. Kay, Sergio F. Vizcaíno, and M. Susana Bargo. 2010. Tooth Root Size, Chewing Muscle Leverage, and the Biology of Homunculus patagonicus (Primates) From the Late Early Miocene of Patagonia. Ameghiniana 47 (3): 355–371.
———. 2014. Oldest Known Cranium of a Juvenile New World Monkey (Early Miocene, Patagonia, Argentina): Implications for the Taxonomy and the Molar Eruption Pattern of Early Platyrrhines. Journal of Human Evolution 74: 67–81.
Pickford, Martin, Yves Coppens, Brigitte Senut, Jorge Morales, and José Braga. 2009. Late Miocene Hominoid from Niger. Comptes Rendus Palevol 8 (4): 413–425.
Pilbeam, David. 1982. New Hominoid Skull Material from the Miocene of Pakistan. Nature 295 (5,846): 232–234.
Pilbeam, David, Michael D. Rose, John C. Barry, and S. M. Ibrahim Shah. 1990. New Sivapithecus Humeri From Pakistan and the Relationship of Sivapithecus and Pongo. Nature 348 (6,298): 237–239.
Rasmussen, D. Tab. 1990. Primate Origins: Lessons From a Neotropical Marsupial. American Journal of Primatology 22 (4): 263–277.
Ravosa, Matthew J. 1996. Mandibular Form and Function in North American and European Adapidae and Omomyidae. Journal of Morphology 229 (2): 171–190.
Rögl, Fred. 1999. Mediterranean and Paratethys Palaeogeography during the Oligocene and Miocene. In Hominoid Evolution and Climatic Change in Europe, edited by Jorge Agustí, Lorenzo Rook, and Peter Andrews, 8–22. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rose, Kenneth D. 1975. The Carpolestidae: Early Tertiary Primates From North America. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University 147: 1–74.
———. 2006. The Beginning of the Age of Mammals. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Rose, Kenneth D., and Thomas M. Bown. 1984. Gradual Phyletic Evolution at the Generic Level in Early Eocene Omomyoid Primates. Nature 309 (5,965): 250–252.
Rose, Kenneth D., Rachel H. Dunn, Kishor Kumar, Jonathan M. G. Perry, Kristen A. Prufrock, Rajendra S. Rana, and Thierry Smith. 2018. New Fossils From Tadkeshwar Mine (Gujarat, India) Increase Primate Diversity from the Early Eocene Cambay Shale. Journal of Human Evolution 122: 93–107.
Rose, Kenneth D., and John M. Rensberger. 1983. Upper Dentition of Ekgmowechashala (Omomyoid Primate) From the John Day Formation, Oligo-Miocene of Oregon. Folia Primatologica 41: 102–111.
Rosenberger, Alfred L. 2010. Platyrrhines, PAUP, Parallelism, and the Long Lineage Hypothesis: A Reply to Kay et al. (2008). Journal of Human Evolution 59 (2): 214–217.
Ross, Callum F. 2000. Into the Light: The Origins of Anthropoidea. Annual Review of Anthropology 29: 147–194.
Ross, Callum F., and Richard F. Kay, eds. 2004. Anthropoid Origins: New Visions. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
Russo, Gabrielle A. 2016. Comparative Sacral Morphology and the Reconstructed Tail Lengths of Five Extinct Primates: Proconsul heseloni, Epipliopithecusvindobonensis, Archaeolemur edwardsi, Megaladapis grandidieri, and Palaeopropithecus kelyus. Journal of Human Evolution 90: 135–162.
Schmid, Peter. 1979. Evidence of Microchoerine Evolution From Dielsdorf (Zürich Region, Switzerland): A Preliminary Report. Folia Primatologica 31 (4): 301–311.
Seiffert, Erik R. 2012. Early Primate Evolution in Afro-Arabia. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 21 (6): 239–253.
Seiffert, Erik R., Jonathan M. G. Perry, Elwyn L. Simons, and Doug M. Boyer. 2009. Convergent Evolution of Anthropoid-like Adaptations in Eocene Adapiform Primates. Nature 461 (7,267): 1,118–1,121.
Seiffert, Erik R., Elwyn L. Simons, and Yousry Attia. 2003. Fossil Evidence for an Ancient Divergence of Lorises and Galagos. Nature 422 (6,930): 421–424.
Seiffert, Erik R., Elwyn L. Simons, Doug M. Boyer, Jonathan M. G. Perry, Timothy M. Ryan, and Hesham M. Sallam. 2010. A Fossil Primate of Uncertain Affinities From the Earliest Late Eocene of Egypt. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 107 (21): 9,712–9,717.
Seiffert, Erik R., Elwyn L. Simons, and Cornelia V. M. Simons. 2004. Phylogenetic, Biogeographic, and Adaptive Implications of New Fossil Evidence Bearing on Crown Anthropoid Origins and Early Stem Catarrhine Evolution. In Anthropoid Origins: New Visions, edited by Callum F. Ross and Richard F. Kay, 157–182. New York: Kluwer/Plenum Publishing.
Silcox, Mary T. 2001. A Phylogenetic Analysis of Plesiadapiformes and Their Relationship to Euprimates and to Other Archontans. Ph.D. dissertation, Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Simons, Elwyn L. 1961. The Phyletic Position of Ramapithecus. Postilla 57: 1–9.
———. 2001. The Cranium of Parapithecus grangeri, an Egyptian Oligocene Anthropoidean Primate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 98 (4): 7,892–7,897.
———. 2004. The Cranium and Adaptations of Parapithecus grangeri, a Stem Anthropoid From the Fayum Oligocene of Egypt. In Anthropoid Origins: New Visions, edited by Callum F. Ross and Richard F. Kay, 183–204. New York: Kluwer/Plenum Publishing.
———. 2008. Eocene and Oligocene Mammals of the Fayum, Egypt. In Elwyn Simons: A Search for Origins, edited by John G. Fleagle and Christopher C. Gilbert, 87–105. New York: Springer.
Simons, Elwyn L., and D. Tab Rasmussen. 1994a. A Remarkable Cranium of Plesiopithecusteras (Primates, Prosimii) From the Eocene of Egypt. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesof the United States of America 91: 9,946–9,950.
Simons, Elwyn L., and D. Tab Rasmussen. 1994b. A Whole New World of Ancestors: Eocene Anthropoideans From Africa. Evolutionary Anthropology 3 (4): 128–139.
———. 1996. Skull of Catopithecus browni, an Early Tertiary Catarrhine. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 100 (2): 261–292.
Simons, Elwyn L., and Erik R. Seiffert. 1999. A Partial Skeleton of Proteopithecussylviae (Primates Anthropoidea): First Associated Dental and Postcranial Remains of an Eocene Anthropoidean. Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences, Paris 329 (12): 921–927.
Simons, Elwyn L., Erik R. Seiffert, Timothy M. Ryan, and Yousry Attia. 2007. A Remarkable Female Cranium of the Early Oligocene Anthropoid Aegyptopithecus zeuxis (Catarrhini, Propliopithecidae). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104 (21): 8,731–8,736.
Simpson, George Gaylord. 1933. The “Plagiaulacoid” Type of Mammalian Dentition: A Study of Convergence. Journal of Mammalogy 14 (2): 97–107.
———. 1940. Review of the Mammal-Bearing Tertiary of South America. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 83 (5): 649–709.
———. 1967. The Tertiary Lorisiform Primates of Africa. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University 136: 39–62.
Smith, G. Elliot. 1912. The Evolution of Man. Smithsonian Institute Annual Report 2012: 553–572.
Smith, Thierry, Kenneth D. Rose, and Philip D. Gingerich. 2006. Rapid Asia–Europe–North America Geographic Dispersal of Earliest Eocene Primate Teilhardina During the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103 (30): 11,223–11,227.
Stehlin, Hans G. 1912. Die säugetiere des schweizerischen Eocaens. Siebenter teil, erst hälfte: Adapis. Abhandlungen der Schweizerischen Paläontologischen Gesellschaft 38: 1,165–1,298.
Strait, Suzanne G. 2001. Dietary Reconstruction of Small-Bodied Omomyoid Primates. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 21 (2): 322–334.
Sussman, Robert W. 1991. Primate Origins and the Evolution of Angiosperms. American Journal of Primatology 23 (4): 209–223.
Suwa, Gen, Reiko T. Kono, Shigehiro Katoh, Berhane Asfaw, and Yonas Beyene. 2007. A New Species of Great Ape From the Late Miocene Epoch in Ethiopia. Nature 448 (7,156): 921–924.
Teaford, Mark F., Mary C. Maas, and Elwyn L. Simons. 1996. Dental Microwear and Microstructure in Early Oligocene Primates from the Fayum, Egypt: Implications for Diet. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 101 (4): 527–543.
Ungar, Peter S., and Richard F. Kay. 1995. The Dietary Adaptations of European Miocene Catarrhines. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 92 (12): 5,479–5,481.
Wang, Cui-Bin, Ling-Xia Zhao, Chang-Zhu Jin, Yuan Wang, Da-Gong Qin, and Wen-Shi Pan. 2014. New Discovery of Early Pleistocene Orangutan Fossils From Sanhe Cave in Chongzuo, Guangxi, Southern China. Quaternary International 354: 68–74.
Ward, C. V., A. Walker, and M. F. Teaford. 1991. Proconsul Did Not Have a Tail. Journal of Human Evolution 21 (3): 215–220.
Wheeler, Brandon C. 2010. Community Ecology of the Middle Miocene Primates of La Venta, Colombia: The Relationship Between Ecological Diversity, Divergence Time, and Phylogenetic Richness. Primates 51 (2): 131–138.
Williams, Blythe A., and Richard F. Kay. 1995. The Taxon Anthropoidea and the Crown Clade Concept. Evolutionary Anthropology 3 (6): 188–190.
Williams, Blythe A., Richard F. Kay, and E. Christopher Kirk. 2010a. New Perspectives on Anthropoid Origins. Proceedings of the National Academyof the United States of America 107 (11): 4,797–4,804.
Williams, Blythe A., Richard F. Kay, E. Christopher Kirk, and Callum F. Ross. 2010b. Darwinius masillae Is a European Middle Eocene Stem Strepsirrhine—A Reply to Franzen et al. Journal of Human Evolution 59: 567–573.
Tables
Table 8.1. Major Families of Fossil Primates Discussed Here
Table 8.2. Morphological Comparisons Between Early Euprimates and Extant Primates
Figure Attributions
Figure 8.1 Hypotheses about primate origins a derivative work by Jonathan M. G. Perry and Stephanie L. Canington is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License. [Includes Garnett’s Galago by Ltshears, CC BY-SA 3.0; Nycticebus bancanus by Gunay M.E., CC BY-SA 4.0; Anja réserve (Madagascar) – 06 by Wayne77, CC BY-SA 4.0].
Figure 8.2 Primate family tree by Jonathan M. G. Perry is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.
Figure 8.3 Eocene Jay Matternes by Jay Matternes creator QS:P170,Q16732146 is in the public domain.
Figure 8.4 Paleocene Map with Plesiadapiform Localities original to Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology by Elyssa Ebding at GeoPlace, California State University, Chico is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License. Localities based on p. 211 of Fleagle, John G. 2013. Primate Adaptation and Evolution, Third Edition. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Figure 8.5 CarpolestesCL by Sisyphos23 is used under a CC BY-SA 3.0 License.
Figure 8.6 Eocene Map with Adapoid and Omomyoid Localities original to Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology by Elyssa Ebding at GeoPlace, California State University, Chico is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License. Localities based on p. 229 of Fleagle, John G. 2013. Primate Adaptation and Evolution, Third Edition. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Figure 8.7 Representative crania of adapids (European adapoids) from the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle Victor Brun in Montauban, France original to Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology by Jonathan M. G. Perry is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.
Figure 8.8 Darwinius masillae holotype slabs by Jens L. Franzen, Philip D. Gingerich, Jörg Habersetzer1, Jørn H. Hurum, Wighart von Koenigswald, B. Holly Smith. Originally from Franzen et al. 2009. Complete Primate Skeleton from the Middle Eocene of Messel in Germany: Morphology and Paleobiology. PLoS ONE 4(5): e5723. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0005723. Used under a CC BY 2.5 License.
Figure 8.9 Paleogeographic map showing hypothetical migration routes of Teilhardina by Smith et. al. Originally from Smith, Thierry, Kenneth D. Rose, and Philip D. Gingerich. 2006. Rapid Asia–Europe–North America geographic dispersal of earliest Eocene primate Teilhardina during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103 (30): 11,223-11,227. doi:10.1073/pnas.0511296103.
Figure 8.10 Oligocene Map with Key Early Anthropoid Localities original to Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology by Elyssa Ebding at GeoPlace, California State University, Chico is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License. Localities based on p. 265 of Fleagle, John G. 2013. Primate Adaptation and Evolution, Third Edition. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Figure 8.11 Competing Trees for Anthropoid Origins by Jonathan M. G. Perry is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.
Figure 8.12 Egyptian workers sweeping Quarry I in the Fayum Basin (2004) by Jonathan M. G. Perry is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.
Figure 8.13 Elwyn Laverne Simons excavating Aegyptopithecus in the Fayum Basin used by permission of the Duke Lemur Center, Division of Fossil Primates.
Figure 8.14 Female and male cranium of A. zeuxis by Simons, Elwyn L., Erik R. Seiffert, Timothy M. Ryan, and Yousry Attia. Original from Simons, et al. 2007. A remarkable female cranium of the early Oligocene anthropoid Aegyptopithecus zeuxis (Catarrhini, Propliopithecidae). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 104 (21): 8,731-8,736. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0703129104.
Figure 8.15 Cast of the right half of the mandible of Eosimias centennicus, type specimen, from K.D. Rose cast collection, photo by Jonathan M. G. Perry is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.
Figure 8.16 Casts of representative amphipithecid material from K.D. Rose cast collection, photo by Jonathan M. G. Perry is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.
Figure 8.17 Representative specimens of Homunculus patagonicus from K.D. Rose cast collection, photo by Jonathan M. G. Perry is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.
Figure 8.18a Cañadon Palos Field Locality in Argentina by Jonathan M. G. Perry is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.
Figure 8.18b Swift Current Creek locality, Saskatchewan, Canada by Jonathan M. G. Perry is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.
Figure 8.19 Miocene Map with Fossil Ape Localities original to Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology by Elyssa Ebding at GeoPlace, California State University, Chico is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License. Localities based on p. 311 of Fleagle, John G. 2013. Primate Adaptation and Evolution, Third Edition. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Figure 8.20 Range chart for Miocene hominoids of Western Eurasia by Casanovas-Vilar, Isaac, David M. Alba, Miguel Garcés, Josep M. Robles, and Salvador Moyà-Solà. Original from Casanovas-Vilar et al. 2011. Updated chronology for the Miocene hominoid radiation in Western Eurasia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108 (14): 5,554-5,559.
Figure 8.21 Victoriapithecus macinnesi skull photo taken at the Musee d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris by Ghedoghedo is used under a CC BY-SA 3.0 License.
Figure 8.22 Gigantopithecus blacki mandible 010112 by Wilson44691 is used under a CC BY-SA 3.0 License.
Figure 8.23 Oreopithecus bambolii 1 by Ghedoghedo is used under a CC BY-SA 3.0 License.