Lecture13

Mammal &Primate Evolution
Placental mammals
Late Mesozoic
Cenozoic (60-65 mya)
1
Plesiadapiformes
• Purgatorius
(Montana)
• Plesiadapis (N.A. &
Europe)
• Altiatlasius (Morocco )
Colugo (‘flying’ lemur)
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Primate Evolution:Eocene
Prosimian radiation/60+ genera
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Fig. 10-2, p. 259
1
Superfamily:Adapoidea > 35
genera (lemurlike)
• Cantius (N.A. & Europe)
• Adapis (Ad´-a-pis) Europe
• Notharctus
(N th k´-tus)
(Noth-ark
t ) N.A.
NA
• Smilodectes
(Smi-lo-dek´-teese) N. A.
4
Lemur-like Adaptive Pattern
Complete post-orbital bar
Larger, rounder, braincases
Nails replacing claws
Eyes rotated forward
Prehensile
Etc.
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Superfamily:Omomyoidae
(tarsier-like)
• F. Omomyidae
• e.g., Necrolemur,
Tetonius
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2
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Early Anthropoids: Fayum,
Late Eocene - Oligocene Egypt
2 genera of prosimians
6 genera of early
anthropoids
F. Eosimiidae
Catopithecus
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Other Early Anthropoids
North Africa
Agnola
Oman
Thailand
Myanmar
China
Eosimias
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3
New World Monkeys
Branisella boliviana
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Old World Anthropoids
Catarrhini :
– Old World Monkeys
– Apes
– Humans
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Oligocene [34-23 MYA]
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4
Old World Anthropoids (Fayum)
• Apidium (3 species) 2.1.3.3
• Propliopithecus (4 species) 2.1.2.3
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Aegyptopithecus
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Summary
15
5
HOMINOIDS
• 6 genera, 12 species
– 1. small-bodied (gibbon and siamang)
– 2. large-bodied forms:
•
•
•
•
Pongo (orangutan)
Gorilla
Pan (chimpanzees and bonobos)
Homo
• Asian large-bodied (orangutan) and
• African large-bodied (gorillas, chimpanzees,
bonobos, and humans)
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Major branches in
anthropoid evolution
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MIOCENE (23-7 mya)
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Understanding Physical Anthropology and Archaeology, 8th ed., p. 191
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Miocene Hominoids
Simons & Pilbeam 1960
•Ape-like
•Human like (e.g., Ramapithecus”)
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Miocene Environments
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Early Miocene Apes – in
Africa
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European Forms (13—11 MYA)
– genus Dryopithecus
– France, Spain, Austria,
Hungary
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South/Southwest Asian Forms (16—
7 M.Y.A.)
– Turkey: early Middle
Miocene (16—14
m.y.a.) Ankarapithecus
Ankarapithecus
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Sivapithecus – an ancestral orangutan?
Skulls of a chimp
(left), orang (right)
flanking face of
Sivapithecus.
The sivapithecines
are found over a wide
area (Turkey to
Nepal) and timespan
(13 – 8 Mya).
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Drawings from John Hawk’s weblog:http://johnhawks.net/weblog/fossils/apes/
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“Ramapitecus”
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Evolutionary relationships of
hominoids
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Other Miocene Hominoids
– Pliopithecus :middle and
late Miocene of Europe;
gibbon ancestor?
– Greece (Ouranopithecus
10 9 m.y.a.),
10—9
) G
Greece
– Lufeng, Yunnan Province,
Southern China (7—6
m.y.a.)
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9
Oreopithecus
And how it might have
moved – through a
swampy forest.
Very well preserved skeleton
from shale deposits in Tuscany.
http://www.toyen.uio.no/palmus/
galleri/montre/english/x616.htm
Fleagle (1999)
Reconstructed skeleton – look at the
pelvis!
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http://www.ribollastory.net/scimmia5.html
Gigantopithecus – the largest known ape
Comparison of Gigantopithecus mandible
(left) and a modern human mandible (right)
together with some of the “dragon’s teeth”
which led to the discovery of this genus.
A phytolith from bamboo, found
embedded on a
Gigantopithecus molar.
Ciochon et al (1990) PNAS 87 81208124
Above – the remarkable
karst landscape of
Liucheng (China) in
which Gigantopithecus
fossils have been found.
Left – a reconstruction to
scale of
Gigantopithecus,
assuming a gorilla like
postcranium.
Images from “The Ape that Was” by Russell Ciochon. http://www.uiowa.edu/~bioanth/giganto.html
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Summary of Primate Evolution
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10
Catarrhine Evolution
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