Early Primates from the Paleocene Through Miocene Lab 12

Exam’s Not so good….. Here is your exam, take it home and correct the mutilple choice mistakes and I will give you half credit Attach old/new scantron with the exam copy Only Questions 1-35 DUE NEXT CLASS!

Intro By studying early primates, we understand human and primate evolution We look at fossils (former living things that have organic material replaced by sediment)

Time Scales Time scale chart on page 280. I don’t test on time periods, but this is a good reference Plate Tectonics: plates of crust under the earth’s surface that move around through continental drift This and the paleoclimate changed the earth through time, and changed the environments and adaptations of living things

Primate Beginnings: Paleocene 66-55 mya Earliest primates from N America N America, Europe and Asia were joined into Laurasia Africa, S America and Antarctica was Gondwanaland Climate was warm and humid: tropical rainforests

Primate Beginnings: Paleocene Primates branched out from mammalian tree 60+ mya Plesiadapiforms were early mammals with primate features (molars, arboreal adaptations) 75 species Table 12.2 compares these to modern primates Probably went extinct because of competition with rodents

“True” Primates of Eocene 56-34 mya Drastic climate change as N America split from Europe Colder climates 200 primate species Adapidae Omomyoidae

Ancestors Adapoids: Ancestors of strepsirhines (lemurs, lorises…) Omomyoids: Ancestors of haplorhines (but very much like tarsier) Other ancestors on page 282

Oligocene Primates 34-23 mya Most Eocene primates went extinct when the temperatures dropped again Not many fossils, except from Fayum Depression in Oligocene, 2 important fossils: Parapithecidae and Propliopithecidae

2 Fossils Parapithecidae: anthropoid, similar to NW monkeys, ancestors of platyrrhines Apidium 2-1-3-3 Propliopithecidae: early catarrhine, ancestor to cercopithecoids and hominoids Aegyptopithecus **Y-5 molar pattern Dental ape

Miocene Hominoids 53-23 mya warming period First apes, arboreal Ape-like head and body with ape and monkey features

Miocene Hominoids African forms: Proconsul When temperatures dropped and ice caps got bigger, land bridges formed and apes migrated to Europe and Asia

Miocene Hominoids Asian forms: Sivapithecus: in lab you will determine who this is an ancestor to Gigantopithecus: largest primate ever to have lived; possibly co-existed with humans

Assignment Lab 12.1 All Self-Test 12.1 on own One Step Further 12.1