5.2: Primate Evolution

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Nov 17, 2020
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- 5.1: Introduction to Primatology
- 5.3: Primate Taxonomy

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There is a direct correlation between primate evolution and primate taxonomy. Our goal in evolutionary systematics is to make a taxonomy of living organisms and trace their ancestors and provide the dates when the groups of species split apart from one another.

Exercise $\PageIndex{1}$

SKIM O'NEIL ON PRIMATE EVOLUTION

Video on primate evolution:

Prosimians

Linnaeus named this group of primates as the ones "before apes", and it happens to work well in an evolutionary framework, as they happen to be the most primitive. If you saw the first "Madagascar" movie, the primates there were all prosimians, and most of the world's prosimians are found on Madagascar. Madagascar is an island off the east coast of Africa. A variety of prosimian fossils are found all over Africa and Asia, but they were replaced by other primates most everywhere but Madagascar.

Exercise $\PageIndex{2}$

SKIM STREPSIRRHINES. Evolution of Lemurs

Tarsiers

Tarsiers used to be classified as prosimians, because they look and move like prosimians, but they turned out to be genetically more similar to monkeys and apes. So, scientists had to come up with a new division that was named after the differences in their noses.

Exercise $\PageIndex{3}$

READ ABOUT HAPLORHINES

Anthropoids

Anthropoids are monkeys, and apes (which includes humans). Anthropoids are primates, but not prosimians. Fossil found in Thailand suggest anthropoids evolved in Asia first (~45mya), and then migrated to Africa (~38mya)

Hominoids

Hominoids are apes. Hominoids are Anthropoids but not monkeys. The Miocene (23-5mya) was an important a time period for hominoid evolution and the adaptive radiation of apes led to extreme variation, and the ones in our clade were relatively generalized compared to Gigantopithecus for example.

Vocabulary

Eocene
Miocene
sivapithecus
gigantopithecus
genetics
Strepsirrhines
anthropoids
hominoids
haplorhines

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Prosimians

Tarsiers

Anthropoids

Hominoids

Vocabulary

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