DOCSLIB.ORG

Fossil Lemur from Northern Madagascar (Palaeopropithecidae/Primate Evolution/Postcranium) WILLIAM L

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Fossil Lemur from Northern Madagascar (Palaeopropithecidae/Primate Evolution/Postcranium) WILLIAM L Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 88, pp. 9082-9086, October 1991 Evolution Phylogenetic and functional affinities of Babakotia (Primates), a fossil lemur from northern Madagascar (Palaeopropithecidae/primate evolution/postcranium) WILLIAM L. JUNGERSt, LAURIE R. GODFREYt, ELWYN L. SIMONS§, PRITHUJIT S. CHATRATH§, AND BERTHE RAKOTOSAMIMANANA$ tDepartment of Anatomical Sciences, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY 117948081; tDepartment of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003; §Department of Biological Anatomy and Anthropology and Primate Center, Duke University, Durham, NC 27705; and IService de Paldontologie, Universit6 d'Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar Contributed by Elwyn L. Simons, July 2, 1991 ABSTRACT Recent paleontological expeditions to the An- Craniodental Anatomy and Tooth Shape karana range of northern Madagascar have recovered the partial remains offour individuals ofa newly recognized extinct With an estimated body mass ofjust over 15 kg, Babakotia lemur, Babakoda radofia. Craniodental and postcranial ma- is a medium-sized indroid somewhat larger than the largest terial serve to identify Babakota as a member of the palae- living indrid (Indri) but similar in size to several of the opropithecids (also including the extinct genera Palaeopropith- smallest extinct lemurs, Mesopropithecus and Pachylemur ecus, Archaeoindris, and Mesopropithecus). Living indrids (4). A detailed description of the maxillary dentition of form the sister group to this fossil lade. The postcranial Babakotia exists (2), but several important features merit anatomy indicates thatBabakotia was a medium-sized (=15 kg) mention here (Fig. 1 compares the type maxilla ofBabakotia indroid whose inferred positional behaviors were primarily to that of Mesopropithecus). Babakotia maxillae can be slow climbing and hanging. Although it is probable that a distinguished readily from other indroids by their possession leaping component typified the ancestral positional repertoire of more laterally compressed and mesiodistally elongated of all Malagasy lemurs, the mosaic nature of the locomotor postcanine teeth (with especially elongated upper premolars skeleton of Babakota further suggests that vertical dcimbing and third molar), a prominent mesial projection of the crown and hang-feeding rather than ricochetal leaping were primitive of the upper anterior premolar beyond the cervix, and for indrids and palaeopropithecids and that the dramatic incipient bilophodonty of the second molar. The palate also adaptations of the living indrids the diver- appears elongate, narrow, and squared off mesially. In this saltatory postdate last respect, Babakotia exhibits a condition more fully de- gence of these two lineages. veloped in Palaeopropithecus and Archaeoindris. As in most indroids, the root ofthe zygoma begins between the first and Babakotia radofilai is the first new genus of extinct "sub- second maxillary molars. The type specimen possesses a fossil" lemur to be discovered in Madagascar since 1909 (1, very prominent malar tubercle that is anteriorly situated 2). All of the fossil remains of this genus recovered to date (opposite the distal moiety of the first molar); in this last were found in Antsiroandoha cave in the Ankarana Range of respect Babakotia is more similar to Palaeopropithecus than northern Madagascar (3). Field seasons from 1988 to 1990 to either extant indrids or Mesopropithecus. have yielded parts of four individuals, including the type A few additional characteristics ally Babakotia generally specimen at Antananarivo University (UA/LPV-8713; upper with the palaeopropithecids and indrids but not specifically jaw plus postcranial fragments), another maxillary fragment with any one species. The central upper incisors are larger [Duke University Primate Center (DUPC) 9144], numerous than the lateral and separated by a small gap; the cheek teeth parts of a subadult (DUPC 9116), including craniodental are laterally compressed, the premolars more so than the fragments and many postcrania, and additional fragmentary molars; the premolar series is about two-thirds as long as the postcrania (DUPC 9921). The dental formula 2*1*2*3 and molar series; M2 is squarer than Ml and possesses more maxillary dental morphology clearly ally Babakotia with the transversely aligned mesial and distal pairs of cusps; M3 is indroid superfamily of Malagasy primates and more specifi- smaller than M1 and M2. cally with indrids (Avahi, Propithecus, and Indri) and palae- Similarity in overall tooth shape in Babakotia and all other and Me- indroids [except for the newly recognized Propithecus tat- opropithecids (Palaeopropithecus, Archaeoindris, tersalli (5)] was assessed by distance measures and clustering sopropithecus) as opposed to archaeolemurids (Archaeole- methods. We first created buccolingual/mesiodistal ratios for mur and Hadropithecus) (2). However, analysis of cranial each tooth from the canine to last molar in all living and and dental characters alone has proven to be inconclusive extinct indroids; the P2 of the three-premolared archaeole- regarding the more precise affinities ofBabakotia within the murids was omitted to facilitate interspecific comparisons. indrid-palaeopropithecid group. We believe that the postcra- Following standardization to Z scores to weight each ratio nial evidence presented here serves to clarify the issue of equally, mean shape variables for each species were used to phylogenetic affinities and offers an opportunity to assess the compute average taxonomic distances among taxa, and this locomotor adaptation of this new genus. Taken together, the 13 x 13 matrix was summarized using six different clustering available information gleaned from the fossil remains of algorithms (6, 7): UPGMA, WPGMA, single linkage, com- Babakotia leads us to offer a new phylogeny for indroid plete linkage, and (3-flexible with B equal to 0.25 and 0.50. primates and an alternative hypothesis for the evolution of Most clustering methods did an excellentjob ofcapturing the locomotion and skeletal design. distance structure as reflected in cophenetic correlations The publication costs ofthis article were defrayed in part by page charge Abbreviations: DUPC, Duke University Primate Centers; UA/LPV, payment. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" Universit6 d'Antananarivo/Laboratoire de Paltontologie des Ver- in accordance with 18 U.S.C. §1734 solely to indicate this fact. tebres. 9082 Evolution: Jungers et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88 (1991) 9083 FIG. 1. Comparison (not to scale) ofthe maxillary dentition ofthe type specimen ofB. radofilai (UA/LPV-8713; Upper) to Mesopropithecus globiceps (Laboratoire d'Anatomie Comparee, Paris; Lower). The postcanine tooth row ofBabakotia is 45 mm long; that ofthe Mesopropithecus specimen is 31 mm long. Note the relatively long and narrow premolars of Babakotia. around 0.9. Fig. 2 presents the strict consensus phenogram the axial skeleton (two partial lumbar vertebrae, one cervical (Fig. 2A) of all six methods along with the UPGMA (Fig. 2B) vertebra, and one caudal vertebra), parts of the upper ex- and p(0.5)-flexible (Fig. 2C) solutions. The strict consensus tremity (medial portion of the right clavicle, most of the left phenogram underscores the distinctiveness of the archaeole- ulna, distal third of the left radius, most of the left carpus, a murids, which have relatively short and broad teeth. The complete right fourth metacarpal, a fragmentary left fourth second major cluster unites all other indroids, which have metatarsal, a left pollical proximal phalanx, and distal parts relatively longer and narrower postcanine teeth. Within this of two proximal phalanges) and parts of the lower extremity latter group, the extant indrids share enough similarity in (the distal end of the right femur, part of the left femoral tooth shape to form their own cluster regardless of method diaphysis, a portion ofthe right greater trochanter, left fibular used (as do Avahi and Indri within this cluster). The two head and shaft fragments, a virtually complete right calca- species of Mesopropithecus also always cluster together as neus, and the distal half of one metatarsal). The 1990 field do the large-bodied species of the Palaeopropithecus- season added other fragmentary shafts and right proximal Archaeoindris group. The findings most relevant to the issues femur (DUPC 9921) to the inventory of postcranial remains. at hand are that Babakotia eitherjoins the nonarchaeolemu- Detailed descriptions of these remains will be presented rid cluster as its last member (e.g., UPGMA algorithm; Fig. elsewhere, but their implications for function and phylogeny 2B) or links to Mesopropithecus (e.g., the P-flexible algo- serve as our focus here. Fig. 3 illustrates part of this post- rithm; Fig. 2C). The former phenogram emphasizes the cranial sample. unique narrowing and elongation of the premolars and third Four regions of the locomotor skeleton are sufficiently molar in Babakotia (and it also allies Mesopropithecus with complete to permit a multivariate assessment of the morpho- Palaeopropithecus-Archaeoindris), whereas the latter re- logical affinities of Babakotia: proximal ulna, proximal fe- flects the position of Mesopropithecus as the minimum link mur, distal femur, and lumbar vertebra. To broaden the to Babakotia. In sum, although Babakotia is most similar in taxonomic and adaptive base of our comparisons, we con- overall tooth shape to Mesopropithecus, the peculiarly buc- trast
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Fossil Lemur from Northern Madagascar (Palaeopropithecidae/Primate Evolution/Postcranium) WILLIAM L
    Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 88, pp. 9082-9086, October 1991 Evolution Phylogenetic and functional affinities of Babakotia (Primates), a fossil lemur from northern Madagascar (Palaeopropithecidae/primate evolution/postcranium) WILLIAM L. JUNGERSt, LAURIE R. GODFREYt, ELWYN L. SIMONS§, PRITHUJIT S. CHATRATH§, AND BERTHE RAKOTOSAMIMANANA$ tDepartment of Anatomical Sciences, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY 117948081; tDepartment of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003; §Department of Biological Anatomy and Anthropology and Primate Center, Duke University, Durham, NC 27705; and IService de Paldontologie, Universit6 d'Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar Contributed by Elwyn L. Simons, July 2, 1991 ABSTRACT Recent paleontological expeditions to the An- Craniodental Anatomy and Tooth Shape karana range of northern Madagascar have recovered the partial remains offour individuals ofa newly recognized extinct With an estimated body mass ofjust over 15 kg, Babakotia lemur, Babakoda radofia. Craniodental and postcranial ma- is a medium-sized indroid somewhat larger than the largest terial serve to identify Babakota as a member of the palae- living indrid (Indri) but similar in size to several of the opropithecids (also including the extinct genera Palaeopropith- smallest extinct lemurs, Mesopropithecus and Pachylemur ecus, Archaeoindris, and Mesopropithecus). Living indrids (4). A detailed description of the maxillary dentition of form the sister group to this fossil lade. The postcranial Babakotia exists
    [Show full text]
  • A Chronology for Late Prehistoric Madagascar
    Journal of Human Evolution 47 (2004) 25e63 www.elsevier.com/locate/jhevol A chronology for late prehistoric Madagascar a,) a,b c David A. Burney , Lida Pigott Burney , Laurie R. Godfrey , William L. Jungersd, Steven M. Goodmane, Henry T. Wrightf, A.J. Timothy Jullg aDepartment of Biological Sciences, Fordham University, Bronx NY 10458, USA bLouis Calder Center Biological Field Station, Fordham University, P.O. Box 887, Armonk NY 10504, USA cDepartment of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst MA 01003, USA dDepartment of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook NY 11794, USA eField Museum of Natural History, 1400 S. Roosevelt Rd., Chicago, IL 60605, USA fMuseum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA gNSF Arizona AMS Facility, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ 85721, USA Received 12 December 2003; accepted 24 May 2004 Abstract A database has been assembled with 278 age determinations for Madagascar. Materials 14C dated include pretreated sediments and plant macrofossils from cores and excavations throughout the island, and bones, teeth, or eggshells of most of the extinct megafaunal taxa, including the giant lemurs, hippopotami, and ratites. Additional measurements come from uranium-series dates on speleothems and thermoluminescence dating of pottery. Changes documented include late Pleistocene climatic events and, in the late Holocene, the apparently human- caused transformation of the environment. Multiple lines of evidence point to the earliest human presence at ca. 2300 14C yr BP (350 cal yr BC). A decline in megafauna, inferred from a drastic decrease in spores of the coprophilous fungus Sporormiella spp. in sediments at 1720 G 40 14C yr BP (230e410 cal yr AD), is followed by large increases in charcoal particles in sediment cores, beginning in the SW part of the island, and spreading to other coasts and the interior over the next millennium.
    [Show full text]
  • A Reconstruction of the Vienna Skull of Hadropithecus Stenognathus
    A reconstruction of the Vienna skull of SEE COMMENTARY Hadropithecus stenognathus T. M. Ryan*, D. A. Burney†, L. R. Godfrey‡,U.B.Go¨ hlich§, W. L. Jungers¶, N. Vaseyʈ, Ramilisonina**, A. Walker*††, and G. W. Weber‡‡ *Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802; †National Tropical Botanical Garden, Kalaheo, HI 96741; ‡Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003; §Department of Geology and Paleontology, Natural History Museum of Vienna, A-1010 Vienna, Austria; ¶Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794; ʈDepartment of Anthropology, Portland State University, Portland, OR 97202; **Muse´e d’Art et d’Arche´ologie, 17 Rue du Docteur Villette, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar; and ‡‡Department of Anthropology, University of Vienna, A-1090 Vienna, Austria Contributed by Alan Walker, May 30, 2008 (sent for review April 25, 2008) Franz Sikora found the first specimen and type of the recently the Imperial Austrian Academy of Sciences first to the zoological extinct Hadropithecus stenognathus in Madagascar in 1899 and department of the Natural History Museum of Vienna and later, sent it to Ludwig Lorenz von Liburnau of the Austrian Imperial in 1934, to the geological-paleontological department. Academy of Sciences. Later, he sent several more specimens in- Much of a subadult skeleton belonging to this species was cluding a subadult skull that was described by Lorenz von Liburnau found during new excavations at Andrahomana in 2003 (7). Two in 1902. In 2003, some of us excavated at the locality and found frontal fragments were found, and these, together with most of more specimens belonging to this species, including much of a the postcranial bones, belong to the skull.
    [Show full text]
  • Fleagle and Lieberman 2015F.Pdf
    15 Major Transformations in the Evolution of Primate Locomotion John G. Fleagle* and Daniel E. Lieberman† Introduction Compared to other mammalian orders, Primates use an extraordinary diversity of locomotor behaviors, which are made possible by a complementary diversity of musculoskeletal adaptations. Primate locomotor repertoires include various kinds of suspension, bipedalism, leaping, and quadrupedalism using multiple pronograde and orthograde postures and employing numerous gaits such as walking, trotting, galloping, and brachiation. In addition to using different locomotor modes, pri- mates regularly climb, leap, run, swing, and more in extremely diverse ways. As one might expect, the expansion of the field of primatology in the 1960s stimulated efforts to make sense of this diversity by classifying the locomotor behavior of living primates and identifying major evolutionary trends in primate locomotion. The most notable and enduring of these efforts were by the British physician and comparative anatomist John Napier (e.g., Napier 1963, 1967b; Napier and Napier 1967; Napier and Walker 1967). Napier’s seminal 1967 paper, “Evolutionary Aspects of Primate Locomotion,” drew on the work of earlier comparative anatomists such as LeGros Clark, Wood Jones, Straus, and Washburn. By synthesizing the anatomy and behavior of extant primates with the primate fossil record, Napier argued that * Department of Anatomical Sciences, Health Sciences Center, Stony Brook University † Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University 257 You are reading copyrighted material published by University of Chicago Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. fig. 15.1 Trends in the evolution of primate locomotion.
    [Show full text]
  • Duke University Dissertation Template
    Lemur Teeth in Three Keys: Dietary Adaptation, Ecospace Occupation, and Macroevolutionary Dynamics by Ethan L. Fulwood Department of Evolutionary Anthropology Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Doug Boyer, Supervisor ___________________________ Richard Kay, Chair ___________________________ Daniel McShea ___________________________ Blythe Williams ___________________________ Elizabeth St. Clair Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology in the Graduate School of Duke University 2019 ABSTRACT iv Lemur Teeth in Three Keys: Dietary Adaptation, Ecospace Occupation, and Macroevolutionary Dynamics by Ethan Fulwood Department of Evolutionary Anthropology Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Doug Boyer, Supervisor ___________________________ Richard Kay, Chair ___________________________ Daniel McShea ___________________________ Blythe Williams ___________________________ Elizabeth St. Clair An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology in the Graduate School of Duke University 2019 Copyright by Ethan Fulwood 2019 Abstract Dietary adaptation appears to have driven many aspects of the high-level diversification of primates. Dental topography metrics provide a means of quantifying morphological correlates of dietary adaptation
    [Show full text]
  • Implications of Lemuriform Extinctions for the Malagasy Flora
    Implications of lemuriform extinctions for the Malagasy flora Sarah Federmana,1, Alex Dornburgb, Douglas C. Dalyc, Alexander Downiea, George H. Perryd,e, Anne D. Yoderf, Eric J. Sargisg, Alison F. Richardg, Michael J. Donoghuea, and Andrea L. Badenh,i,j aDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520; bNorth Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC 27601; cInstitute of Systematic Botany, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458; dDepartment of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802; eDepartment of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802; fDepartment of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708; gDepartment of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520; hDepartment of Anthropology, Hunter College, New York, NY 10065; iDepartment of Anthropology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY 10065; and jThe New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY 10065 Edited by Rodolfo Dirzo, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, and approved March 10, 2016 (received for review December 4, 2015) Madagascar’s lemurs display a diverse array of feeding strategies than any surviving lemur species (14, 15). It is widely hypothesized with complex relationships to seed dispersal mechanisms in Malagasy that these extinctions significantly reduced the morphological and plants. Although these relationships have been explored previously ecological diversity of Malagasy seed dispersers (14, 16–18). In turn, on a case-by-case basis, we present here the first comprehensive these reductions may have had an impact on the structure and analysis of lemuriform feeding, to our knowledge, and its hypothe- function of Madagascar’s flora (14, 16, 19), especially large-seeded sized effects on seed dispersal and the long-term survival of Mala- plant species that would have relied on correspondingly large-bodied gasy plant lineages.
    [Show full text]
  • Dental Topography Indicates Ecological Contraction of Lemur Communities
    AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 148:215–227 (2012) Dental Topography Indicates Ecological Contraction of Lemur Communities Laurie R. Godfrey,1* Julia M. Winchester,2,3 Stephen J. King,1 Doug M. Boyer,2,4 and Jukka Jernvall3 1Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 2Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-8081 3Institute for Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland 4Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY 11210-2850 KEY WORDS dental ecology; complexity (OPCR); Dirichlet normal energy (DNE); subfossil lemurs ABSTRACT Understanding the paleoecology of extinct subfossil lemurs and compared these values to those of subfossil lemurs requires reconstruction of dietary prefer- an extant lemur sample. The two metrics succeeded in ences. Tooth morphology is strongly correlated with diet separating species in a manner that provides insights in living primates and is appropriate for inferring dietary into both food processing and diet. We used them to ecology. Recently, dental topographic analysis has shown examine the changes in lemur community ecology in great promise in reconstructing diet from molar tooth Southern and Southwestern Madagascar that accompa- form. Compared with traditionally used shearing metrics, nied the extinction of giant lemurs. We show that the dental topography is better suited for the extraordinary poverty of Madagascar’s frugivore community is a long- diversity of tooth form among subfossil lemurs and has standing phenomenon and that extinction of large-bodied been shown to be less sensitive to phylogenetic sources of lemurs in the South and Southwest resulted not merely shape variation.
    [Show full text]
  • Subfossil Lemurs of Madagascar
    CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Subfossil Lemurs of Madagascar LAURIE R. GODFREY, WILLIAM L. JUNGERS, AND DAVID A. BURNEY Madagascar’s living lemurs (order Primates) belong to a radia- on steady, gradual diversifi cation would suggest. We believe tion recently ravaged by extirpation and extinction. There that the latter scenario is more consistent with the fossil are three extinct and fi ve extant families (two with extinct record. members) of lemurs on an island of less than 600,000 km2. The question of how lemurs got to Madagascar is still far This level of familial diversity characterizes no other primate from resolved (Godinot, 2006; Masters et al., 2006; Stevens radiation. The remains of up to 17 species of recently extinct and Heesy, 2006; Tattersall, 2006a, 2006b). It is clear that (or subfossil lemurs) have been found alongside those of still Madagascar (with the Indian plate) separated from Africa extant lemurs at numerous Holocene and late Pleistocene long before primates evolved and that it arrived at its present sites in Madagascar (fi gure 21.1, table 21.1). The closest rela- position relative to Africa by 120–130 Ma (Krause et al., 1997; tives of the lemurs are the lorisiform primates of continental Roos et al., 2004; Masters et al., 2006; Rabinowitz and Woods, Africa and Asia; together with the lemurs, these comprise the 2006). Most scholars favor chance rafting of an ancestral suborder Strepsirrhini. lemur from continental Africa to Madagascar (Krause et al., Most researchers have defended an ancient Gondwanan 1997; Kappeler, 2000; Roos et al., 2004; Rabinowitz and (African or Indo-Madagascan) origin for lemurs.
    [Show full text]
  • What Did Hadropithecus Eat, and Why Should Paleoanthropologists Care?
    American Journal of Primatology 9999:1–15 (2015) RESEARCH ARTICLE What did Hadropithecus Eat, and Why Should Paleoanthropologists Care? LAURIE R. GODFREY1*, BROOKE E. CROWLEY2, KATHLEEN M. MULDOON3, ELIZABETH A. KELLEY4, 1 1 5 STEPHEN J. KING , ANDREW W. BEST , AND MICHAEL A. BERTHAUME 1Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 2Departments of Geology and Anthropology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 3Department of Anatomy, Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine, Midwestern University, Glendale, Arizona 4Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri 5Max Planck Weizmann Center for Integrative Archaeology and Anthropology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany Over 40 years ago, Clifford Jolly noted different ways in which Hadropithecus stenognathus converged in its craniodental anatomy with basal hominins and with geladas. The Malagasy subfossil lemur Hadropithecus departs from its sister taxon, Archaeolemur, in that it displays comparatively large molars, reduced incisors and canines, a shortened rostrum, and thickened mandibular corpus. Its molars, however, look nothing like those of basal hominins; rather, they much more closely resemble molars of grazers such as Theropithecus. A number of tools have been used to interpret these traits, including dental microwear and texture analysis, molar internal and external morphology, and finite element analysis of crania. These tools, however, have failed to provide support for a simple dietary interpretation; whereas there is some consistency in the inferences they support, dietary inferences (e.g., that it was graminivorous, or that it specialized on hard objects) have been downright contradictory. Cranial shape may correlate poorly with diet. But a fundamental question remains unresolved: why do the various cranial and dental convergences exemplified by Hadropithecus, basal hominins, and Theropithecus exist? In this paper we review prior hypotheses regarding the diet of Hadropithecus.
    [Show full text]
  • Reconstruction of an Extraordinary Extinct Primate from Madagascar
    COMMENTARY Reconstruction of an extraordinary extinct primate from Madagascar Ian Tattersall* Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024 he minicontinent of Madagas- cus and its close relative Archaeolemur car has been separated by 350 have been reported as pronograde ter- miles of ocean from its neigh- restrial quadrupeds (10, 11) (Fig. 1). bor Africa for at least the past These two last genera, and the ex- T120 million years, i.e., since long before tremely short-faced and deep-skulled the beginning of the Age of Mammals Hadropithecus in particular, were also (1). As a result, the island’s flora and exceptional in showing extended dental fauna show extremely elevated levels of development schedules that presumably endemicity overall (2), and its native reflected prolonged overall develop- mammals show a curious combination of mental periods (12); and compared low diversity at the ordinal level with with other members of the Malagasy extraordinarily high diversity at lower lemur fauna (living and extinct), they taxonomic levels (3). Today, for exam- were also highly encephalized (4, 9). Fig. 1. Reconstruction by the artist Stephen Nash ple, Madagascar harbors an astonishing The first subfossil remains of Hadro- of a Hadropithecus individual as it may have ap- 30% of all primate families and some pithecus were recovered at around the peared in life. Pelage coloration and distribution are, of course, conjectural. 21% of all primate genera (3), all of turn of the 20th century from the An- them represented nowhere else. Yet, drahomana cave, near the southern tip high as these figures are, they would of Madagascar.
    [Show full text]
  • New Findings at Andrahomana Cave, Southeastern Madagascar
    Portland State University PDXScholar Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations Anthropology 4-1-2008 New Findings at Andrahomana Cave, Southeastern Madagascar David A. Burney National Tropical Botanical Garden Natalie Vasey Portland State University, [email protected] Laurie R. Godfrey University of Massachusetts William L. Jungers Stony Brook University Ramilisonina Musée d'Art et d'Archéologie See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/anth_fac Part of the Anthropology Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Citation Details D.A. Burney, N. Vasey, L.R. Godfrey, Ramilisonina, W.L. Jungers, M. Ramarolahy, and L. Raharivony – New Findings at Andrahomana Cave, Southeastern Madagascar. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, v. 70, no. 1, p. 13–24. This Article is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. Authors David A. Burney, Natalie Vasey, Laurie R. Godfrey, William L. Jungers, Ramilisonina, M. F. Ramarolahy, and L. L. Raharivony This article is available at PDXScholar: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/anth_fac/47 D.A. Burney, N. Vasey, L.R. Godfrey, Ramilisonina, W.L. Jungers, M. Ramarolahy, and L. Raharivony – New Findings at Andrahomana Cave, Southeastern Madagascar. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, v. 70, no. 1, p. 13–24. NEW FINDINGS AT ANDRAHOMANA CAVE, SOUTHEASTERN MADAGASCAR D.A. BURNEY1,*,N.VASEY2, L.R. GODFREY3,RAMILISONINA4, W.L. JUNGERS5,M.RAMAROLAHY6, AND L.
    [Show full text]
  • BMC Evolutionary Biology
    DNA from extinct giant lemurs links archaeolemurids to extant indriids Orlando, Ludovic; Calvignac, Sébastien; Schnebelen, Céline; Douady, Christophe J.; Godfrey, Laurie R.; Hänni, Catherine Published in: BMC Evolutionary Biology DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-8-121 Publication date: 2008 Document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Document license: CC BY Citation for published version (APA): Orlando, L., Calvignac, S., Schnebelen, C., Douady, C. J., Godfrey, L. R., & Hänni, C. (2008). DNA from extinct giant lemurs links archaeolemurids to extant indriids. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 8, [121]. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-8-121 Download date: 26. sep.. 2021 BMC Evolutionary Biology BioMed Central Research article Open Access DNA from extinct giant lemurs links archaeolemurids to extant indriids Ludovic Orlando1, Sébastien Calvignac1, Céline Schnebelen1, Christophe J Douady2, Laurie R Godfrey3 and Catherine Hänni*1 Address: 1Paléogénétique et Evolution Moléculaire, Université de Lyon, Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Institut Fédératif Biosciences Gerland Lyon Sud, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, INRA, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 46 allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon Cédex 07, France, 2CNRS UMR 5023, Laboratoire d'Ecologie des Hydrosystèmes Fluviaux, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 6 rue R. Dubois, Bat. Darwin-C, F- 69622 Villeurbanne Cédex, France and 3Department of Anthropology, 240 Hicks Way, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA Email: Ludovic Orlando - [email protected]; Sébastien Calvignac - [email protected]; Céline Schnebelen - [email protected]; Christophe J Douady - [email protected]; Laurie R Godfrey - [email protected]; Catherine Hänni* - [email protected] * Corresponding author Published: 28 April 2008 Received: 11 December 2007 Accepted: 28 April 2008 BMC Evolutionary Biology 2008, 8:121 doi:10.1186/1471-2148-8-121 This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/8/121 © 2008 Orlando et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
    [Show full text]