Explorations Chapter 8 Fossils + Primate Evolution

Question 1

Adapoidea

Answer 1

Order: Primates. One of the earliest groups of euprimates (true primates; earliest records from the early Eocene).

Question 2

Adaptive radiations

Answer 2

Rapid diversifications of single lineages into many species which may present unique morphological features in response to different ecological settings.

Question 3

Ancestral traits

Answer 3

Features that were inherited from a common ancestor and which remain (largely) unchanged.

Question 4

Anthropoids

Answer 4

Group containing monkeys and apes, including humans

Question 5

Auditory Bulla

Answer 5

The rounded bony floor of the middle ear cavity

Question 6

Bilophodonty

Answer 6

Dental condition in which the cusps of molar teeth form ridges (or lophs) separated from each other by valleys (seen, e.g., in modern catarrhine monkeys).

Question 7

Catarrhines

Answer 7

Order: Primates; Suborder: Anthropoidea; Infraorder: Catarrhini. Group, with origins in Africa and Asia, that contains monkeys and apes, including humans.

Question 8

Clade

Answer 8

Group containing all of the descendants of a single ancestor. A portion of a phylogenetic tree represented as a bifurcation(node)in a lineage and all of the branches leading forward in time from that bifurcation.

Question 9

Convergent evolution

Answer 9

the independent evolution of a morphological feature in animals not closely related (e.g., wings in birds and bats)

Question 10

Crown

Answer 10

Smallest monophyletic group (clade) containing a specified set of extant taxa and all descendants of their last common ancestor.

Question 11

Diastema

Answer 11

Space between adjacent teeth

Question 12

Diffuse coevolution

Answer 12

The ecological interaction between whole groups of species (e.g.,primates) with whole groups of other species (e.g.,fruiting trees).

Question 13

Ectotympanic

Answer 13

Bony ring or tube that holds the tympanic membrane (eardrum).

Question 14

Euprimates

Answer 14

Order: Primates. True primates or primates of modern aspect

Question 15

Haplorhines

Answer 15

Group containing catarrhines, platyrrhines, and tarsiers

Question 16

Hominins

Answer 16

Modern humans and any extinct relatives more closely related to us than to chimpanzees

Question 17

Mandibular symphysis

Answer 17

Fibrocartilaginous joint between the left and right mandibular segments, located in the midline of the body.

Question 18

Omomyoidea

Answer 18

Order: Primates; Superfamily: Omomyoidea. One of the earliest groups of euprimates (true primates; earliest record in the early Eocene).

Question 19

Petrosal bone

Answer 19

The portion of the temporal bone that houses the inner ear apparatus.

Question 20

Plagiaulacoid

Answer 20

Dental condition where at least one of the lower cheek-teeth (molars or premolars) is a laterally compressed blade.

Question 21

Platyrrhines

Answer 21

Order: Primates; Suborder: Anthropoidea; Infraorder: Platyrrhini. Group containing monkeys found in the Americas.

Question 22

Plesiadapiforms

Answer 22

Order: Plesiadapiformes. Archaic primates or primate-like placental mammals (Early Paleocene–Late Eocene).

Question 23

Plesiomorphic

Answer 23

Having features that are shared by different groups which arose from a common ancestor.

Question 24

Stem

Answer 24

Taxa that are basal to a given crown group but are more closely related to the crown group than to the closest living sister taxon of the crown group.

Question 25

Strepsirrhines

Answer 25

Order: Primates; Suborder: Stresirrhini. Group containing lemurs, lorises, and galagos (does not include tarsiers).

Question 26

Toothcomb

Answer 26

Dental condition found in modern strepsirrhines in which the lower incisors and canines are laterally compressed and protrude forward at a nearly horizontal inclination. This structure is used in grooming.