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50 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Common Primate Traits |
- Class = Mammalia - All primates, except humans, are covered in dense hair - warm-blooded (body temperature usually higher than the air around them) - give birth to live young - long period of dependence after birth - skeletal features reflect arboreal existence - prehensile feet and hands - collar bone (more freedom of shoulder movement) - flexible forelimbs (rotating forearm) - omnivorous - five digits on hands and feet - stereoscopic vision - large brain relative to body size - diurnal primates are usually more social |
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Prosimian Traits |
"Pre Monkeys" - depend more on smell - more mobile ears and whiskers - longer snouts - fixed facial expressions - grasping hands - stereoscopic - enlarged visual centres |
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Types of Prosimians |
1. Lemur 2. Loris 3. Tarsier |
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Lemur Traits |
Found in Madagascar and Comoro Islands - many are quadrupeds - females often dominate males - Prosimian |
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Loris Traits |
Found in South-East Asia and Sub-Sahara Africa - all nocturnal - all arboreal - give birth to single infants - Prosimians Two major Sub-families: - Lorsies: slow, walk along branches like a quadruped - Bushbabies (galagos): fast, active, cling and leap |
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Tarsier Traits |
- Nocturnal - Arboreal - eat insects or small animals - large eyes and visual centres in the brain - elongated ankle bones - live in a mated pair with offspring |
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Anthropoid Traits |
- rounded brain cases - reduced, non-mobile outer ears - relatively small flat faces |
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Types of Anthropoids |
1. Humans 2. Apes 3. Monkeys |
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Platyrrhines |
"New World Monkeys" - Central and South Africa - broad, flat bridged noses, out facing nostrils - 3 pre-molars - arboreal - groups vary in size - some have prehensile tails |
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Catarrhines |
"Old World Monkeys" - Africa, Asia, Europe - Same number of teeth as apes and humans - narrow noses, nostrils facing down - terrestrial and arboreal |
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Cebids |
- New World Monkeys - one offspring at a time - vary in size, group composition, diet |
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Callitrichids
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Marmosets and Tamarins - small - claws instead of fingernails - give birth to twins - mature in 2 years - monogamy or multi-female groups - eat fruit, tree sap, insects - new world monkey |
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Colobine |
- Old World Monkey - mostly arboreal - diet = leaves and seeds - flamboyant colours in newborns |
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Cercopithecine |
- Old World Monkey - terrestrial - sexual dimorphism - eat more fruit - live in arid and seasonal environments - calloused bums |
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Hominid Traits |
- Large brain and cerebral cortex - Long arms - Short, broad trunks - No tails - Joints allow for large range of movement - Bipedal - Molars are flat and rounded |
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Gibbons and Siamangs |
Hyblobates - Brachiators - Social group = life mates plus one or two immature offspring - Little sexual dimorphism - Highly territorial |
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Orangutans |
Pongid
- Borneo and Sumatra - Sexual dimorphism - Fruit eaters - Arboreal - Heaviest of Arboreal Primates - Spend most of their time alone |
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Gorilla |
Pongid - West Africa, Mountains in Congo, Uganda, Rwanda - Eat plants - Sexual Dimorphism - Knuckle Walking - Terrestrial - Dominant male, multi-male, multi-female and offspring |
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Chimpanzee |
Pongid - Forested areas in Africa - Similar to gorilla - Arboreal and Terrestrial - Knuckle Walking - Less sexually dimorphic - Eat insects, small lizards and birds - Common Chimpanzee hunts small animals - Exhibit Cultural Behaviours |
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Two Species of Chimpanzee |
- Common Chimpanzee - Pan Troglodyte - Bonobo (Pygmy) Chimpanzee - Pan Paniscus - no sexual dimorphism - female centred groups - more stable groups |
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Hominids |
Modern Humans |
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Hominid Traits |
- Bipedal - Dish shaped Pelvis - Lumbar curve in spine - Straight lower limbs - Arched, non prehensile feet - Opposable thumb - Hand eye coordination - Large and Complex brain - Large Cerebral Cortex - Unique blood carriage system to the brain - Omnivore - Thicker teeth enamel - Dentition features a parabolic arch instead of a "U" shape - Chins - Females have sex anytime of the year, not just in specific mating seasons - Only hominids hunt very large animals - Longest dependency period after birth - Completely terrestrial - More gender-role specialization for labor |
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Toolmaking |
- No non-human primates except apes use tools - Requires planning |
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Language |
- Only modern humans have spoken, symbolic language - Common Chimpanzees use gestures and Vocalization in the wild |
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Plesiadipis |
Squirrel-like animal with a large snout and large incisors - Large nasal cavity - eye orbits located on the sides of the skull - well developed sense of smell - little or no stereoscopic vision - claws - non-prehensile hands and feet - great joint mobility - omnivore - 65 mya |
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Eocene |
A geological epoch (time period) 55-34 mya during which the first primates appeared |
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Paleocene |
The geological epoch (time period) 65-55 mya - marked major geological transition from Mesozoic to Crenozoic era - 75% of all animal and plant life that lived in the last part of the Cainozoic era vanished in the early Palaeocene - saw the evolution and diversification of many types mammals as a result of the expansion and diversification of deciduous trees and flowering plants |
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Two major groups of Prosimians from oldest definite primates |
1. adapids 2. omomyids Both very different from each other, appeared on the border of the Paleocene and Eocene |
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Carpolestes simpsoni |
Mouse sized arboreal creature from Wyoming (~56 mya) - lacks stereoscopic vision - nails instead of claws - prehensile hands and feet - possible common ancestor of adapids and omomyids |
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Environmental changes Cretaceous and Paleocene era's |
- Cretaceous was damp and mild - Beginning of Paleocene epoch, climate became dryer and cooler and vast swamplands disappeared. |
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Continental Drift |
The movement of the continents over the past 135mya In early cretaceous (~135 mya) there were two "supercontinents": - Laurasia - North America and Eurasia - Gondwanaland - Africa, South America, India, Australia, and Antarctica By the early paleocene (~65 mya) Gondwanaland had broken apart, with South America drifting west away from Africa, India drifting east, and Australia and Antarctica drifting south |
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Insectivore |
Animals adapted to feeding on insects - it is thought that primates evolved from insectivores |
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Suggestions for traits that favoured Emergence of Primates |
- Arboreal life favours vision over smell? - Arboreal life favours grasping hands and feet? - Jumping from tree to tree favours stereoscopic vision? - Stereoscopic vision, prehensile hands and feet, reduced claws advantageous for insectivores? - shift in diet from insects to seeds, fruits and leaves caused a change? |
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Omomyids |
- Tarsier-like features - Large eyes - Long Tarsal bones (ankles) - Nocturnal - Smaller ones insectivores - Larger ones fruit eaters - Two incisors, three premolars on each side of the lower jaw - Large occipital and Temporal lobes (perception and integration of visual memory) |
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Adapids |
- Lemur-like features - Diurnal - Sexual Dimorphism - Four premolars and fewer incisors than earlier mammals - stereoscopic vision |
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Catopithecus |
Found at Fayum (southwest of Cairo, Egypt) ~ 35 mya - Eocene primate - size of modern squirrel - ate fruit and insects - small eyes - diurnal - agile arboreal quadruped |
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Oligocene |
The geological epoch 34-24 mya during which definite anthropoids emerged |
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Parapithecids |
Oligocene anthropoids from Fayum - three premolars (in each quarter) - broad incisors - projecting canines - low, rounded cusps on molars - small (under 3 lbs) - diurnal - possibly part of the ancestry of new world monkeys |
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Propliopithecids |
- dental formation of modern catarrhines - two premolars - broad lower incisors, projecting canines and lower molars with low, rounded cusps |
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Aegyptopithecus |
Propliopithecid - arboreal quadruped ~13 lbs - ate mostly fruit - diurnal - small eyes - large area of brain dedicated to vision - small area of the brain dedicated to smell - sexual dimorphism - individuals changed dramatically as they aged (developed ridges of bone along the top and across the back of the skull) -teeth, jaws and some aspects of the skull were ape-like but the rest of its skeleton was monkey-like - ancestor of Old world monkeys and hominoids (apes and humans) |
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Miocene |
Geological epoch from 24 - 5.2 mya - monkeys and apes diverged in appearance - warmer temperatures and drier conditions - Africa came into contact with Eurasia ~ 18 mya - hominid (direct human ancestor) emerged in Africa ~ 8 - 5 mya |
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Proto-apes |
Anthropoids with some ape-like characteristics |
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Proconsul |
Proto-ape ~20 mya - Kenya and Uganda - ranges in size from a gibbon to a female gorilla - no tail - primarily an arboreal quadruped although its elbows, wrists and fingers may have permitted brachiation - fruit eaters - larger species may have also consumed leaves |
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Brachiation |
Moving through the trees by swinging hand over hand from branch to branch - Animals that use this method of locomotion usually have long hands and fingers |
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Pierolapithecus |
Middle Miocene ~ 13 mya - Barcelona, Spain - capable of brachiation - arboreal - good candidate for ancestor of later forest-dwelling apes - have many of proconsul's features but teeth and face resemble modern hominids more |
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Kenyapithecus |
Middle Miocene - Kenya - Have many of proconsul's features but teeth and face resemble modern hominids more - terrestrial - thickly enamelled teeth and robust jaw - does not have the capacity for brachiation |
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Oreopithecus |
Europe ~ 8 mya - Late Miocene Ape - adapted to life in thickly forested marshlands - long arms and hands - mobile joints - agile brachiator - diet consisted mostly of leaves - ape-like body - monkey-like head |
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Sivapithecus |
Late Miocene Ape ~ 13 - 8 mya - ancestral to orangutan - flat, thickly enamelled molars - smaller canines - less sexual dimorphism - mixed woodland-grassland environment - ate coarse grasses and seeds |
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Dryopothecids |
Eurasia ~ 15 mya - arboreal - omnivorous - thinner tooth enamel - lighter jaw - pointed molar cusps - palate, jaw, mid face looked like African apes and humans - contrasted to later hominoids it had a very short face and small brow ridge - brachiation |
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Divergence of primates from other hominids |
Biochemical comparisons of blood proteins in different surviving primates determined that: ~ 12 mya gibbons diverged ~ 10 mya orangutans diverged ~ 4.5 mya apes (gorillas and chimps) diverged - assumption that the more similar in chemistry blood proteins are the closer they are in evolutionary terms - natural selection can speed ip the rate of molecular change Other techniques used: - comparisons of amino acid sequences, chromosomal structures, DNA strands |
