1

Mammal &Primate Evolution

Placental mammalsLate MesozoicCenozoic (60-65 mya)

1

Plesiadapiformes• Purgatorius

(Montana)• Plesiadapis (N.A. &

Europe)Europe)• Altiatlasius (Morocco )

Colugo (‘flying’ lemur)Colugo (‘flying’ lemur) 2

Primate Evolution:EoceneProsimian radiation/60+ genera

Fig. 10-2, p. 2593

2

Superfamily:Adapoidea > 35 genera (lemurlike)

• Cantius (N.A. & Europe)• Adapis (Ad´-a-pis) Europe• Notharctus

(N th k´ t ) N A(Noth-ark -tus) N.A.• Smilodectes

(Smi-lo-dek´-teese) N. A.

4

Lemur-like Adaptive Pattern

Complete post-orbital barLarger, rounder, braincases

Nails replacing clawsEyes rotated forward

PrehensileEtc.

5

Superfamily:Omomyoidae (tarsier-like)

• F. Omomyidae• e.g., Necrolemur,

Tetonius

6

3

7

Early Anthropoids: Fayum, EgyptLate Eocene - Oligocene

2 genera of prosimians

6 genera of early anthropoids

F. Eosimiidae

8

Catopithecus

Other Early Anthropoids

North AfricaAgnolaOman

9

ThailandMyanmarChina

Eosimias

4

New World Monkeys

Branisella bolivianaBranisella boliviana10

Old World AnthropoidsCatarrhini :

– Old World Monkeys– Apes– Humans

11

Oligocene [34-23 MYA]

12

5

Old World Anthropoids (Fayum)

• Apidium (3 species) 2.1.3.3• Propliopithecus (4 species) 2.1.2.3

13

Aegyptopithecus

14

Summary

15

6

HOMINOIDS

• 6 genera, 12 species– 1. small-bodied (gibbon and siamang)– 2. large-bodied forms:

• Pongo (orangutan)• Pongo (orangutan)• Gorilla• Pan (chimpanzees and bonobos)• Homo

• Asian large-bodied (orangutan) and• African large-bodied (gorillas, chimpanzees,

bonobos, and humans)

16

Major branches in Major branches in anthropoid evolution anthropoid evolution

17

MIOCENE (23-7 mya)

Understanding Physical Anthropology and Archaeology, 8th ed., p. 191

18

7

Miocene Hominoids

Simons & Pilbeam 1960•Ape-like•Human like (e.g., Ramapithecus”)

19

Miocene Environments

20

Early Miocene Apes – in Africa

21

8

European Forms (13—11 MYA)

– genus Dryopithecus– France, Spain, Austria,

Hungary

22

South/Southwest Asian Forms (16—7 M.Y.A.)

– Turkey: early Middle Miocene (16—14 m.y.a.) Ankarapithecus

Ankarapithecus

23

Skulls of a chimp (left), orang (right) flanking face of Sivapithecus.

The sivapithecines are found over a wide area (Turkey to

Sivapithecus – an ancestral orang-utan?

area (Turkey to Nepal) and timespan (13 – 8 Mya).

Drawings from John Hawk’s weblog:http://johnhawks.net/weblog/fossils/apes/24

9

“Ramapitecus”

25

Evolutionary relationships of hominoids

26

Other Miocene Hominoids– Pliopithecus :middle and

late Miocene of Europe; gibbon ancestor?

– Greece (Ouranopithecus10 9 ) G10—9 m.y.a.), Greece

– Lufeng, Yunnan Province, Southern China (7—6 m.y.a.)

27

10

Oreopithecus

Very well preserved skeleton from shale deposits in Tuscany. http://www.toyen.uio.no/palmus/galleri/montre/english/x616.htm Reconstructed skeleton – look at the

pelvis!http://www.ribollastory.net/scimmia5.html

And how it might have moved – through a swampy forest.Fleagle (1999)

28

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 8120-8124

Above – the remarkable karst landscape of Liucheng (China) in which Gigantopithecus fossils have been found.

Left – a reconstruction to scale ofGigantopithecus, assuming a gorilla like postcranium.

Images from “The Ape that Was” by Russell Ciochon. http://www.uiowa.edu/~bioanth/giganto.html29

Summary of Primate Evolution

30

11

Catarrhine Evolution

31