PAVYH Euarchontoglires Primates

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

PAVYH Euarchontoglires Primates PAVYH Euarchontoglires Primates •Conejos y ratones •Lemures voladores y musarañas de los árboles •Monos, chimpancés, gorilas •Hombres Kriegs et al., 2006 www.aragosaurus.com John Anderson. Anatomical and zoological researches: comprising an account of the zoological results of the two expeditions to western Yunnan in Dermoptera y Scandentia 1868 and 1875; and a monograph of the two cetacean genera, Platanista and Orcella , 1878 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F ile:Dentition_tupaia.jpg Scandentia: musarañas de los árboles (pero no son musarañas). Gran cerebro en relación con el tamaño del cuerpo, mayor que en humanos. Sudeste Asiático, Cynocephalidae: colugos y lemures voladores. aparecieron probablemente en el Eoceno Medio de Parecidos a los marsupiales en el desarrollo de las Henan, en China (Eodendrogale T. Yongsheng. 1988. crias. Sudeste Asiático, aparecieron probablemente Fossil tree shrews from the Eocene Hetaoyuan en el Paleoceno Formation of Xichuan, Henan. 26:214-220 Primates es un grupo de Euarchontoglires de clima tropical se caracterizan por más de una treintena de caracteres relacionados con sus tres adaptaciones principales: agilidad en los árboles, gran cerebro y aguda visión diurna y cuidado parental Locomoción bípeda y cuadrúpeda Pentadáctilos con el pulgar oponible o semi Gran cerebro y barra o placa postorbital Uñas planas Oído alojado en el hueso petroso del temporal This faithful reproduction of a lithograph plate from Gray's Anatomy, a two- dimensional work of art, is not copyrightable in the U.S. as per Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp.; the same is also true in many other countries, including Germany. Unless stated otherwise, it is from the 20th U.S. edition of Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, originally published in 1918 and Caption: Wikimedia.org therefore lapsed into the public domain. Other copies of Gray's Anatomy can be found on Bartleby and also on Yahoo!. This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This Side view of the skull. applies worldwide. Caracteres de los primates Bunodoncia http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/topics/mammal_anatomy/tooth_diversity.html Las manos de los primates Formas Actuales Pleistoceno Plioceno Mioceno Oligoceno Eoceno Antropoideos Paleoceno simios Prosimios Haplorinos Estrepsirinos “nariz seca” “nariz Cretácico húmeda” Superior Presimios Clasificación del Orden Primates Origen de los primates Los primates más primitivos (presimios) tienen el registro más antiguo en el Paleoceno inferior de EE.UU. y Canadá Se trata de dientes aislados del género Purgatorius. Se incluyen en Plesiadapiformes Los Plesiadapiformes son formas exclusivamente fósiles. Son abundantes en el Paleoceno – Eoceno Inferior de Norteamérica, Europa y Asia Las formas primitivas presentan un gran premolar de morfología similar a los multituberculados Carpomegodon jepseni Plesiadapis Amplia diastema Las formas mas derivadas presentan unos incisivos parecidos a los de los roedores Cerebro más pequeño que el Hábitos arborícolas, pero sin las adaptaciones anatómicas para el resto de los primates desplazamiento rápido por las ramas de los primates modernos Los prosimios se diversificaron en el Eoceno. Se encuentran en Norteamérica, Europa y el Norte de África Los prosimios en la actualidad están representados por los lemures y los lorises, además de los adápidos, típicos del Eoceno lorise Orbitas frontales Uñas planas lemur Los lemures presentan Incisivos inferiores en forma de peineta Los adápidos son los prosimios más abundantes en el Eoceno Barra postorbital Hocico corto Ectotimpánico (el hueso que rodea el timpano) es tubular Incisivos implantados verticalmente El cráneo de un adápido se diferencia del de un plesiadapiformes por la posición, más frontal, de las órbitas. El cráneo de un adápido tiene más capacidad craneal que el de los plesiadapiformes Formas Actuales Pleistoceno Plioceno Estrepsirinos “nariz húmeda” Mioceno Prosimios actuales Oligoceno Eoceno Antropoideos Paleoceno Cretácico Superior http://www.whozoo.org/mammals/Primates/primatephylogeny.htm Formas Actuales Pleistoceno Plioceno platirrinos Mioceno Oligoceno Eoceno catarrinos Paleoceno simios Prosimios Cretácico Superior Presimios Clasificación de los primates Estreptisinos son los primates con la “nariz húmeda” y Haplorrinos los que tienen la “nariz seca” Los estreptisinos tienen barra Los haplorrinos tienen la cuenca postorbital, es decir parte de la para el ojo totalmente cerrada cuenca para el ojo abierta Nycticebus: loris lento Pongo: Orangután Los primeros Simios. Omomyidae es el grupo de simios más diversificado en el Eoceno de Norteamérica, Asia Europa y el Norte de África. Llegan a la actualidad (tarseros). Grupo hermano de los primates antropoideos Rostro corto Orbitas grandes Tetonius Eoceno NA Manos prensiles Matthew & Granger Perdida de premolares 1915 Bien adaptados a la vida en los árboles y de hábitos nocturnos Tarsero del Este de Asia Platirrinos y catarrinos, los monos del nuevo y del viejo mundo Platirrinos monos con catarrinos monos nariz ancha. con nariz estrecha. Narinas hacia arriba Narinas hacia abajo platirrinos catarrinos Sin contacto entre el frontal y el esfenoides Contacto entre el frontal y el esfenoides Canal Sin canal Dos auditivo Tres auditivo premolares premolares Los catarrinos tienen un mayor tamaño del encéfalo y las orbitas en posición más frontal Platirrino: Leontopithecus Catarrino: Macaca Caracteristicas de los catarrinos en el cráneo humanod This faithful reproduction of a lithograph plate from Gray's Anatomy, a two- dimensional work of art, is not copyrightable in the U.S. as per Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp.; the same is also true in many other countries, including Germany. Unless stated otherwise, it is from the 20th U.S. edition of Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, originally published in 1918 and Caption: Wikimedia.org therefore lapsed into the public domain. Other copies of Gray's Anatomy can be found on Bartleby and also on Yahoo!. This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This Side view of the skull. applies worldwide. Los primates platirrinos o monos Suramericanos Cébidos • Insectívoros Libadores http://www.whozoo.org/mammals/Primates/primatephylogeny.htm Fleagle, 1988 Los primates y los roedores se encuentran en el registro fósil sudamericano en el Oligoceno por primera vez. Se trata de formas derivadas y muy alejadas evolutivamente de sus ancestros. Sudamérica estaba aislada del resto de continentes, por tanto ¿de donde migran estos vertebrados? Se ha propuesto de NA y de África, pero en ambos casos tendrían que nadar cientos de kilómetros por el océano abierto. Sin duda uno de los grandes problemas paleobiogeográficos El platirrino más antiguo: Branisella boliviana, capas de Salla, Deseadiense, Oligoceno superior de Bolivia, c10r, 28-29 ma • Cráneos de Tamarin: Leontopithecus (ADW y otras fuentes) los platirrinos aulladores Cébidos Alouatta seniculus, Red Howler http://www.whozoo.org/mammals/Primate Monkey s/primatephylogeny.htm Dr. James Rossie - Carnegie Museum of Natural History Historia de los monos americanos • Origen • Historia evolutiva • El platirrino más antiguo: Branisella boliviana, capas de Salla, Deseadiense, Oligoceno superior de Bolivia, c10r, 28-29 ma • La cuestión de cómo y cuando llegaron a Suramérica es uno de los debates más interesantes de la historia paleogeográfica de los Los primates y los roedores aparecieron vertebrados En el oligoceno sudamericano y siendo Ya modernos cuando hicieron su 1ª Aparición en el continente austral Estrepsirinos Haplorinos Dos cráneos homínidos vista frontal .
Recommended publications
  • Mammalia, Plesiadapiformes) As Reflected on Selected Parts of the Postcranium
    SHAPE MEETS FUNCTION: STRUCTURAL MODELS IN PRIMATOLOGY Edited by Emiliano Bruner Proceedings of the 20th Congress of the International Primatological Society Torino, Italy, 22-28 August 2004 MORPHOLOGY AND MORPHOMETRICS JASs Journal of Anthropological Sciences Vol. 82 (2004), pp. 103-118 Locomotor adaptations of Plesiadapis tricuspidens and Plesiadapis n. sp. (Mammalia, Plesiadapiformes) as reflected on selected parts of the postcranium Dionisios Youlatos1, Marc Godinot2 1) Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Biology, Department of Zoology, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece. email [email protected] 2) Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, UMR 5143, Case Courrier 38, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Institut de Paleontologie, 8 rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris, France Summary – Plesiadapis is one of the best-known Plesiadapiformes, a group of Archontan mammals from the Late Paleocene-Early Eocene of Europe and North America that are at the core of debates con- cerning primate origins. So far, the reconstruction of its locomotor behavior has varied from terrestrial bounding to semi-arboreal scansoriality and squirrel-like arboreal walking, bounding and claw climbing. In order to elucidate substrate preferences and positional behavior of this extinct archontan, the present study investigates quantitatively selected postcranial characters of the ulna, radius, femur, and ungual pha- langes of P. tricuspidens and P. n .sp. from three sites (Cernay-les-Reims, Berru, Le Quesnoy) in the Paris Basin, France. These species of Plesiadapis was compared to squirrels of different locomotor habits in terms of selected functional indices that were further explored through a Principal Components Analysis (PCA), and a Discriminant Functions Analysis (DFA). The indices treated the relative olecranon height, form of ulnar shaft, shape and depth of radial head, shape of femoral distal end, shape of femoral trochlea, and dis- tal wedging of ungual phalanx, and placed Plesiadapis well within arboreal quadrupedal, clambering, and claw climbing squirrels.
    [Show full text]
  • Geology and Vertebrate Paleontology of Western and Southern North America
    OF WESTERN AND SOUTHERN NORTH AMERICA OF WESTERN AND SOUTHERN NORTH PALEONTOLOGY GEOLOGY AND VERTEBRATE Geology and Vertebrate Paleontology of Western and Southern North America Edited By Xiaoming Wang and Lawrence G. Barnes Contributions in Honor of David P. Whistler WANG | BARNES 900 Exposition Boulevard Los Angeles, California 90007 Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Science Series 41 May 28, 2008 Paleocene primates from the Goler Formation of the Mojave Desert in California Donald L. Lofgren,1 James G. Honey,2 Malcolm C. McKenna,2,{,2 Robert L. Zondervan,3 and Erin E. Smith3 ABSTRACT. Recent collecting efforts in the Goler Formation in California’s Mojave Desert have yielded new records of turtles, rays, lizards, crocodilians, and mammals, including the primates Paromomys depressidens Gidley, 1923; Ignacius frugivorus Matthew and Granger, 1921; Plesiadapis cf. P. anceps; and Plesiadapis cf. P. churchilli. The species of Plesiadapis Gervais, 1877, indicate that Member 4b of the Goler Formation is Tiffanian. In correlation with Tiffanian (Ti) lineage zones, Plesiadapis cf. P. anceps indicates that the Laudate Discovery Site and Edentulous Jaw Site are Ti2–Ti3 and Plesiadapis cf. P. churchilli indicates that Primate Gulch is Ti4. The presence of Paromomys Gidley, 1923, at the Laudate Discovery Site suggests that the Goler Formation occurrence is the youngest known for the genus. Fossils from Member 3 and the lower part of Member 4 indicate a possible marine influence as Goler Formation sediments accumulated. On the basis of these specimens and a previously documented occurrence of marine invertebrates in Member 4d, the Goler Basin probably was in close proximity to the ocean throughout much of its existence.
    [Show full text]
  • Sectional Geometry in a Simulated Fine Branch Niche
    JOURNAL OF MORPHOLOGY 276:759–765 (2015) Mouse Hallucal Metatarsal Cross-Sectional Geometry in a Simulated Fine Branch Niche Craig D. Byron,1* Anthony Herrel,2,3 Elin Pauwels,4 Amelie De Muynck,4 and Biren A. Patel5,6 1Department of Biology, Mercer University, Macon, Georgia 2Departement d’Ecologie et de Gestion de la Biodiversite, CNRS/MNHN, Paris, France 3Department of Vertebrate Evolutionary Morphology, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium 4Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ghent University, UGCT, Ghent, Belgium 5Department of Cell and Neurobiology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 6Human and Evolutionary Biology Section, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California ABSTRACT Mice raised in experimental habitats con- arboreal substrates (Le Gros Clark, 1959; Cart- taining an artificial network of narrow “arboreal” sup- mill, 1972; Szalay and Drawhorn, 1980; Sussman, ports frequently use hallucal grasps during locomotion. 1991; Schmitt and Lemelin, 2002; Bloch et al., Therefore, mice in these experiments can be used to 2007; Sargis et al., 2007). There are also examples model a rudimentary form of arboreal locomotion in an of rodent (Orkin and Pontzer, 2011), carnivoran animal without other morphological specializations for using a fine branch niche. This model would prove use- (Fabre et al., 2013), marsupial (Lemelin and ful to better understand the origins of arboreal behav- Schmitt, 2007; Shapiro et al., 2014), and nonmam- iors in mammals like primates. In this study, we malian vertebrates including frogs, lizards, and examined if locomotion on these substrates influences birds (Herrel et al., 2013; Sustaita et al., 2013) the mid-diaphyseal cross-sectional geometry of mouse that are effective in this niche without primate- metatarsals.
    [Show full text]
  • 8. Primate Evolution
    8. Primate Evolution 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.
    [Show full text]
  • Fossil Primates
    AccessScience from McGraw-Hill Education Page 1 of 16 www.accessscience.com Fossil primates Contributed by: Eric Delson Publication year: 2014 Extinct members of the order of mammals to which humans belong. All current classifications divide the living primates into two major groups (suborders): the Strepsirhini or “lower” primates (lemurs, lorises, and bushbabies) and the Haplorhini or “higher” primates [tarsiers and anthropoids (New and Old World monkeys, greater and lesser apes, and humans)]. Some fossil groups (omomyiforms and adapiforms) can be placed with or near these two extant groupings; however, there is contention whether the Plesiadapiformes represent the earliest relatives of primates and are best placed within the order (as here) or outside it. See also: FOSSIL; MAMMALIA; PHYLOGENY; PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY; PRIMATES. Vast evidence suggests that the order Primates is a monophyletic group, that is, the primates have a common genetic origin. Although several peculiarities of the primate bauplan (body plan) appear to be inherited from an inferred common ancestor, it seems that the order as a whole is characterized by showing a variety of parallel adaptations in different groups to a predominantly arboreal lifestyle, including anatomical and behavioral complexes related to improved grasping and manipulative capacities, a variety of locomotor styles, and enlargement of the higher centers of the brain. Among the extant primates, the lower primates more closely resemble forms that evolved relatively early in the history of the order, whereas the higher primates represent a group that evolved more recently (Fig. 1). A classification of the primates, as accepted here, appears above. Early primates The earliest primates are placed in their own semiorder, Plesiadapiformes (as contrasted with the semiorder Euprimates for all living forms), because they have no direct evolutionary links with, and bear few adaptive resemblances to, any group of living primates.
    [Show full text]
  • Cynocephalid Dermopterans from the Palaeogene of South Asia (Thailand, Myanmar and Pakistan): Systematic, Evolutionary and Palaeobiogeographic Implications
    CynocephalidBlackwell Publishing Ltd dermopterans from the Palaeogene of South Asia (Thailand, Myanmar and Pakistan): systematic, evolutionary and palaeobiogeographic implications LAURENT MARIVAUX, LOÏC BOCAT, YAOWALAK CHAIMANEE, JEAN-JACQUES JAEGER, BERNARD MARANDAT, PALADEJ SRISUK, PAUL TAFFOREAU, CHOTIMA YAMEE & JEAN-LOUP WELCOMME Accepted: 5 April 2006 Marivaux, L., Bocat, L., Chaimanee, Y., Jaeger, J.-J., Marandat, B., Srisuk, P., Tafforeau, P., doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2006.00235.x Yamee, C. & Welcomme, J.-L. (2006). Cynocephalid dermopterans from the Palaeogene of South Asia (Thailand, Myanmar and Pakistan): systematic, evolutionary and palaeobiogeographic implications. — Zoologica Scripta, 35, 395–420. Cynocephalid dermopterans (flying lemurs) are represented by only two living genera (Cynocephalus and Galeopterus), which inhabit tropical rainforests of South-East Asia. Despite their very poor diversity and their limited distribution, dermopterans play a critical role in higher- level eutherian phylogeny inasmuch as they represent together with Scandentia (tree-shrew) the sister group of the Primates clade (Plesiadapiformes + Euprimates). However, unlike primates, for which the fossil record extends back to the early Palaeogene on all Holarctic continents and in Africa, the evolutionary history of the order Dermoptera sensu stricto (Cynocephalidae) has so far remained undocumented, with the exception of a badly preserved fragment of mandi- ble from the late Eocene of Thailand (Dermotherium major). In this paper, we described newly discovered fossil dermopterans (essentially dental remains) from different regions of South Asia (Thailand, Myanmar, and Pakistan) ranging from the late middle Eocene to the late Oligocene. We performed microtomographic examinations at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF, Grenoble, France) to analyse different morphological aspects of the fossilized jaws.
    [Show full text]
  • Oldest Known Euarchontan Tarsals and Affinities of Paleocene Purgatorius to Primates
    Oldest known euarchontan tarsals and affinities of Paleocene Purgatorius to Primates Stephen G. B. Chestera,b,c,1, Jonathan I. Blochd, Doug M. Boyere, and William A. Clemensf aDepartment of Anthropology and Archaeology, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY 11210; bNew York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY 10024; cDepartment of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520; dFlorida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611; eDepartment of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708; and fUniversity of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, CA 94720 Edited by Neil H. Shubin, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, and approved December 24, 2014 (received for review November 12, 2014) Earliest Paleocene Purgatorius often is regarded as the geologi- directly outside Placentalia with the contemporary condylarths cally oldest primate, but it has been known only from fossilized (archaic ungulates) Protungulatum and Oxyprimus (10–12). How- dentitions since it was first described half a century ago. The den- ever, the addition of new tarsal data for Purgatorius and increased tition of Purgatorius is more primitive than those of all known taxon sampling, including a colugo and four plesiadapiforms, using living and fossil primates, leading some researchers to suggest this same matrix, results in a strict consensus tree that supports that it lies near the ancestry of all other primates; however, others a monophyletic Euarchonta with Sundatheria (treeshrews and have questioned its affinities to primates or even to placental colugos) as the sister group to a fairly unresolved Primates clade mammals. Here we report the first (to our knowledge) nondental that includes Purgatorius (Fig.
    [Show full text]
  • Foraging Behaviour of the Slender Loris (Loris Lydekkerianus Lydekkerianus): Implications for Theories of Primate Origins
    Journal of Human Evolution 49 (2005) 289e300 Foraging behaviour of the slender loris (Loris lydekkerianus lydekkerianus): implications for theories of primate origins K.A.I. Nekaris* Department of Anthropology, Washington University, Campus Box 1114, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA Received 3 May 2004; accepted 18 April 2005 Abstract Members of the Order Primates are characterised by a wide overlap of visual fields or optic convergence. It has been proposed that exploitation of either insects or angiosperm products in the terminal branches of trees, and the corresponding complex, three-dimensional environment associated with these foraging strategies, account for visual convergence. Although slender lorises (Loris sp.) are the most visually convergent of all the primates, very little is known about their feeding ecology. This study, carried out over 10 ½ months in South India, examines the feeding behaviour of L. lydekkerianus lydekkerianus in relation to hypotheses regarding visual predation of insects. Of 1238 feeding observations, 96% were of animal prey. Lorises showed an equal and overwhelming preference for terminal and middle branch feeding, using the undergrowth and trunk rarely. The type of prey caught on terminal branches (Lepidoptera, Odonata, Homoptera) differed significantly from those caught on middle branches (Hymenoptera, Coleoptera). A two-handed catch accompanied by bipedal postures was used almost exclusively on terminal branches where mobile prey was caught, whereas the more common capture technique of one-handed grab was used more often on sturdy middle branches to obtain slow moving prey. Although prey was detected with senses other than vision, vision was the key sense used upon the final strike.
    [Show full text]
  • Conserved Sequences Identify the Closest Living Relatives of Primates
    ZOOLOGICAL RESEARCH between primates and tree shrews (Kay et al., 1992; Novacek, Gorilla gorilla, Macaca mulatta, Microcebus murinus, 1992; Wible & Covert, 1987). In addition, several other studies Galeopterus variegatus, and Mus musculus vs. Homo sapiens have regarded both tree shrews and flying lemurs (colugos) were downloaded from the University of California Santa Cruz together as a sister group of primates (Bloch et al., 2007; Liu (UCSC) pairwise alignments. We also downloaded repeat- et al., 2001; Murphy et al., 2001; Nie et al., 2008; Sargis, masked whole genome sequences (17 species) from the Conserved sequences identify the closest living 2002; Springer et al., 2003, 2004). Further phylogenetic NCBI assembly database, with the repeat-masked Homo analysis incorporating paleontological evidence also suggests sapiens genome obtained from the UCSC Genome Browser that primates and colugos are sister taxa (Beard, 1993). (http://genome.ucsc.edu/). Pairwise whole genome alignments relatives of primates Previous molecular studies also support colugos as the for 17 species (Table 1) vs. Homo sapiens were obtained closest living relatives of primates (Bininda-Emonds et al., using LASTZ (Schwartz et al., 2003) with the following 2007; Hudelot et al., 2003; Waddell et al., 2001). Genomic parameters: E=30, O=400, K=3 000, L=2 200, and M=50. A Mei-Ling Zhang1,#, Ming-Li Li2,4,#, Adeola Oluwakemi Ayoola2,4, Robert W. Murphy2,3, Dong-Dong Wu2,*, Yong Shao2,* analyses further postulated a third potential topology: 24-way whole genome multiple
    [Show full text]
  • Evolutionary History of Lorisiform Primates
    Evolution: Reviewed Article Folia Primatol 1998;69(suppl 1):250–285 oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Evolutionary History of Lorisiform Primates D. Tab Rasmussen, Kimberley A. Nekaris Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, Mo., USA Key Words Lorisidae · Strepsirhini · Plesiopithecus · Mioeuoticus · Progalago · Galago · Vertebrate paleontology · Phylogeny · Primate adaptation Abstract We integrate information from the fossil record, morphology, behavior and mo- lecular studies to provide a current overview of lorisoid evolution. Several Eocene prosimians of the northern continents, including both omomyids and adapoids, have been suggested as possible lorisoid ancestors, but these cannot be substantiated as true strepsirhines. A small-bodied primate, Anchomomys, of the middle Eocene of Europe may be the best candidate among putative adapoids for status as a true strepsirhine. Recent finds of Eocene primates in Africa have revealed new prosimian taxa that are also viable contenders for strepsirhine status. Plesiopithecus teras is a Nycticebus- sized, nocturnal prosimian from the late Eocene, Fayum, Egypt, that shares cranial specializations with lorisoids, but it also retains primitive features (e.g. four premo- lars) and has unique specializations of the anterior teeth excluding it from direct lorisi- form ancestry. Another unnamed Fayum primate resembles modern cheirogaleids in dental structure and body size. Two genera from Oman, Omanodon and Shizarodon, also reveal a mix of similarities to both cheirogaleids and anchomomyin adapoids. Resolving the phylogenetic position of these Africa primates of the early Tertiary will surely require more and better fossils. By the early to middle Miocene, lorisoids were well established in East Africa, and the debate about whether these represent lorisines or galagines is reviewed.
    [Show full text]
  • Eocene Plesiadapiform Shows Affinities with Flying Lemurs Not
    =% LETTERS TO NATURE Eocene plesiadapiform shows branous in primitive eutherians12'13, the presence of an entotym. panic bulla in Ignatius would be a derived character that rules affinities with flying lemurs Ignatius and other Plesiadapiformes out of the ancestry 0f Primates. Bullar entotympanics have evolved in many mam- not primates malian groups10. However, an unusual similarity in the entotym- panics of Ignatius and the living dermopteran Cynocephalus is Richard F. Kay*, Richard W. Thorington Jrt that the entotympanic contacts the basioccipital ven- 14 & Peter Houdet tromedially . This is a distinction from the entotympanics of tree shrews, for example, in which the only bony contact * Department of Biological Anthropology and Anatomy, medially is with the petrosal. Duke University Medical Center, Durham, Previous proposals of a significant intracranial blood supply North Carolina 27710, USA for paromomyids by way of either the internal carotid artery3,5 t Department of Vertebrate Zoology, or the ascending pharyngeal artery6 are ruled out by the follow- National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA ing observations. (1) The carotid foramen is too small to have % Department of Biological Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, conducted an internal carotid artery of significant size. The New Jersey 08544, USA diameter of the carotid foramen in Ignatius is comparable to. that of lorises, in which the internal carotid artery involutes PLESIADAPIFORMES, of the North American and European during development and only the internal carotid nerve passes Paleogene, is often identified as a sister group of primates. This through15'16. (2) There are no grooves or tubes for the promon- hypothesis is based on several proposed anatomical synapo- tory division of the internal carotid artery on the promontorium.
    [Show full text]
  • Colugos: Obscure Mammals Glide Into the Evolutionary Limelight Robert D Martin
    BioMed Central Minireview Colugos: obscure mammals glide into the evolutionary limelight Robert D Martin Address: Department of Anthropology, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL 60605-2496, USA. Email: [email protected] Published: 1 May 2008 Journal of Biology 2008, 7:13 (doi:10.1186/jbiol74) The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at http://jbiol.com/content/7/4/13 © 2008 BioMed Central Ltd Abstract Substantial molecular evidence indicates that tree-shrews, colugos and primates cluster together on the mammalian phylogenetic tree. Previously, a sister-group relationship between colugos and primates seemed likely. A new study of colugo chromosomes indicates instead an affinity between colugos and tree-shrews. Colugos, constituting the obscure and tiny order Dermop- shrews, tree-shrews, colugos, bats and primates. However, tera, are gliding mammals confined to evergreen tropical Simpson’s ensuing influential classification of mammals [1] rainforests of South-East Asia. There are two extant species, rejected this assemblage. Subsequently, prompted by Butler now placed in separate genera: Galeopterus variegatus [4], the superorder Archonta was progressively resuscitated, (Malayan colugo, formerly known as Cynocephalus variegatus) although most authors emphatically excluded elephant- and Cynocephalus volans (Philippine colugo). Their most shrews (for example [5,6]). A quite recent major classifi- obvious hallmark is a gliding membrane (patagium) cation of mammals [7] united tree-shrews, colugos, bats surrounding almost the entire body margin. Colugos are and primates in the grand order Archonta. also called ‘flying lemurs’, but - as Simpson aptly noted [1] - they “are not lemurs and cannot fly”. They differ from other This whole topic has been reinvigorated by molecular gliding mammals (certain rodents and marsupials) in that evidence indicating that tree-shrews, colugos and primates, the patagium also extends between the hind limbs and the at least, may be quite closely related.
    [Show full text]