Ch. 5: "an Overview Of The Primates"

Front 1

Members of a suborder of Primates, the Prosimii. Traditionally, the suborder includes lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers.

Back 1

Prosimians

Front 2

Members of a suborder of Primates, the Anthropoidea. Traditionally, the suborder includes monkeys, apes, and humans.

Back 2

Anthropoids

Front 3

The technical term for the formal grouping (class) of mammals.

Back 3

Mammalia

Front 4

Referring to a trait or combination of traits present in an ancestral form.

Back 4

Primitive

Front 5

Evolved for a particular function; usually refers to a specific trait, but may also refer to the entire way of life of an organism.

Back 5

Specialized

Front 6

Scientists who study the evolution, anatomy, and behavior of nonhuman primates. Those who study behvaior in noncaptive animals are usually trained as physical anthropologists.

Back 6

Primatologists

Front 7

The form (shape, size) of anatomical structures; can also refer to the entire organism.

Back 7

Morphology

Front 8

Having a diet consisting of many food types (i.e., plant materials, meat, and insects).

Back 8

Omnivorous
Active during the day.

Front 9

Diurnal
Active during the night.

Back 9

Nocturnal

Front 10

The condition whereby visual images are, to varying degreses, superimposed on one another. This provides for depth perception, or the perception of the external environment in three dimensions. Stereoscopic vision is partly a function of structures in the brain.

Back 10

Stereoscopic vision

Front 11

Vision characterized by overlapping visual fields provided by forward-facing eyes; essential to depth perception.

Back 11

Binocular vision

Front 12

Tree-living; adapted to life in the trees.

Back 12

Arboreal

Front 13

The entire way of life of an organism: where it lives, what it eats, how it gets food, how it avoids predators, etc.

Back 13

Adaptive niche

Front 14

The traditional view that primate characteristics can be explained as a consequence of primate diversification into arboreal habitats.

Back 14

Arboreal hypothesis

Front 15

An anatomical term referring to a hypothetical line that divides the body into right and left halves.

Back 15

Midline

Front 16

The elevated portions (bumps) on the chewing surfaces of premolar and molar teeth.

Back 16

Cusps

Front 17

What is the human dental formula?

Back 17

2.1.2.3./2.1.2.3.

Front 18

What is the New World monkey dental formula?

Back 18

2.1.3.3./2.1.3.3.

Front 19

Using all four limbs to support the body during locomotion; the basic mammalian (and primate) form of locomotion; majority are arboreal.

Back 19

Quadrupedal

Front 20

A form of locomotion in which the body is suspended beneath the hands and support is alternated from one forelimb to the other; arm swinging; only the small gibbons and siamangs of Southeast Asia use this form of locomotion almost exclusively.

Back 20

Brachiation

Front 21

Members of the superfamily Hominoidea. This group includes apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, orangutans, gibbons, and siamangs) and humans.

Back 21

Hominoids

Front 22

Found only on the island of Madagascar.

Back 22

Lemurs

Front 23

Found in tropical forest and woodland habitats of India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, & Africa; able to survive in mainland areas by adopting a nocturnal activity pattern at a time when most other prosimians became extinct.

Back 23

Lorises

Front 24

Restricted to island areas in Southeast Asia; nocturnal insectivores, leaping onto prety from lower branches and shrubs.

Back 24

Tarsiers

Front 25

List traits that distinguish anthropoids from prosimians.

Back 25

1. Generally larger body size
2. Larger brain
3. Reduced reliance on the sense of smell, indicated by absence of rhinarium
4. Increased reliance on vision
5. Greater degree of color vision

Front 26

Differences in physical characteristics between males and females of the same species.

Back 26

Sexual dimorphism

Front 27

The separate evolutionary development of similar characteristics in different groups of organisms

Back 27

Homoplasy

Front 28

The formal designation for the superfamily of anthropoids that includes apes and humans.

Back 28

Hominoidea

Front 29

Describe ways apes and humans differe from monkeys.

Back 29

1. Generally larger body size
2. Absence of a tail
3. Shortened trunk
4. Differences in position and musculature of the shoulder joint
5. More complex behavior
6. More complex brain and enhanced cognitive abilities
7. Increased period of infant development and dependency

Front 30

Primates are members of the ________ subgroup, by far the most common living mammals.

Back 30

placental

Front 31

Eye sockets are enclosed at the sides by a ring of bone called the _______.

Back 31

postorbital bar

Front 32

· The region of the skull that contains the structures of the middle ear is completely encircled by a bony structure called a _________.

Back 32

auditory bulla

Front 33

True or False: The majority of primates are mostly arboreal and live in forest or woodland habitats.

Back 33

true

Front 34

True or False: · Primates are generally omnivorous and are one example of the overall lack of specialization in primates.

Back 34

true

Front 35

Most primates have four kinds of teeth. What are they?

Back 35

incisors and canines for biting and cutting and premolars and molars for chewing

Front 36

True or False: Taxonomies not only organize diversity into categories, but also illustrate evolutionary and genetic relationships between species and groups of species.

Back 36

true

Front 37

What are characteristics that distinguish lemurs and lorises from anthropoids?

Back 37

more laterally placed eyes, differences in reproductive physiology, shorter gestation and maturation periods, and retention of a claw (“grooming claw”) on the second toe

Front 38

Lemurs and lorises also possess a dental specialization known as the “_____ ____,” formed by forward-projecting lower incisors and canines and used in grooming and feeding.

Back 38

dental comb