Primate Diversity

Question 1

What are the set of features of primates (5)?

Answer 1

1) Primarily arboreal
2) Emphasis on vision > smell
3) Big brains
4) Slow life histories
5) Grasping extremities

Question 2

Who are the Prosimians?

Answer 2

Lemurs/Lorises and Tarsiers

Question 3

Who are the Anthropoids?

Answer 3

NWMs, OWMs, and the Apes

Question 4

Who are the Strepsirrhines?

Answer 4

Lemurs and lorises (and bushbabies)

Question 5

Who are the Haplorrhines?

Answer 5

Tarsiers, NWMs, OWMs, and Apes

Question 6

Who are the lesser apes?

Answer 6

Gibbons and Siamang

Question 7

Who are the great apes?

Answer 7

Gorillas, Orangutans, Chimpanzees, Bonobos, and Humans

Question 8

Who are the plesiadapiforms?

Answer 8

Archaic primates during the Paleocene; The SISTER group to living primates

Question 9

Who are the contenders for closest living primate relatives?

Answer 9

Tree shrews and flying lemurs

Question 10

Which species is the closest living primate relative?

Answer 10

The flying lemurs

Question 11

What are the 4 aspects of primate locomotion?

Answer 11

1) Generalized limb structure (4 limbs, pentadactyly)
2) Fingerprints
3) Grasping extremities (humans do not have a grasping foot)
4) Nails rather than claws

Question 12

Which primates do not have nails

Answer 12

Callitrichines (tamarins and marmosets)

Question 13

What are the locomotion types (5)?

Answer 13

1) Suspensory
2) Arboreal quad
3) Terrestrial quad
4) Knucklewalking
5) Vertical clinging and leaping

Question 14

Which primates exhibit suspensory locomotion?

Answer 14

Typically bigger primates

Question 15

Which primates exhibit vertical clinging and leaping?

Answer 15

Tarsiers and bush babies

Question 16

Which primates exhibit knucklewalking?

Answer 16

In some of the great apes

Question 17

What are the 2 sensory adaptations of primates?

Answer 17

1) Enhanced visual apparatus (forward facing eyes) and reduced olfactory reliance
2) Orbits are enclosed by bone (to prevent obstruction by chewing muscles)

Question 18

Which part of the brain is large in primates relative to other mammals?

Answer 18

The neocortex, which is responsible for cognitive abilities

Question 19

What are the dental adaptations of primates?

Answer 19

Generalized dental pattern related to omnivory (heterodont)
BUT some dental specializations exist

Question 20

What is the difference in dental pattern between platyrrhines versus catarrhines?

Answer 20

Platyrrhines have dental pattern 2.1.3.3 (3 premolars)
Catarrhines have dental pattern 2.1.2.3 (2 premolars)

Question 21

What are the characteristics of strepsirrhines (6)?

Answer 21

1) Curved/moist nose
2) Tapetum lucidum
3) orbits not fully enclosed
4) 2-part mandible
5) Toilet/grooming claw on second toe
6) Tooth comb (incisors)

Question 22

What are the characteristics of lemurs (4)?

Answer 22

1) Nocturnal or diurnal
2) Solitary and gregarious
3) Arboreal and terrestrial
4) Mainly frugivorous

Question 23

What are the characteristics of lorises and galagos (4)?

Answer 23

1) Nocturnal
2) Often solitary
3) Arboreal
4) Feed on gum, sap, nectar, insects

Question 24

What are the characteristics of Haplorrhines (5)?

Answer 24

1) Dry noses
2) Mostly diurnal
3) Orbits fully enclosed
4) Larger brains
5) No vitamin C production

Question 25

What are the characteristics of tarsiers (4)?

Answer 25

1) Nocturnal but no tapetum (large eyes instead) 2) Nostrils separated from mouth by dry upper lip 3) Eats insects and small vertebrae 4) Relatively solitary

Question 26

What are the characteristics of Anthropoidea (3)?

Answer 26

1) Reduced muzzle 2) Fused lower jaw 3) Nails

Question 27

Who are the NWMs/Platyrrhines?

Answer 27

Callitrichines (marmosets and tamarins), capuchins, spider-monkeys

Question 28

What are the characteristics of NWMs/Platyrrhines (3)?

Answer 28

1) Some have a prehensile tail 2) 3 premolars (2.1.3.3) 3) Broad nostrils

Question 29

Where is the old world vs new world?

Answer 29

Old world = Africa New world = Central/South America

Question 30

Who are the Catarrhines?

Answer 30

OWMs and apes

Question 31

What are the characteristics of catarrhines (3)?

Answer 31

1) 2 premolars (2.1.2.3) 2) Narrow nostrils 3) Some have ischial callosities (butt pads)

Question 32

What are the 2 major groups of OWMs/Cercopithecoidea?

Answer 32

1) Colobines (leaf-eating) 2) Cercopithecines (cheek-pouches)

Question 33

Who are the OWMs/Cercopithecoids?

Answer 33

Geladas, Mandrools, Baboons, Colobus, Macaques

Question 34

Who are the Hominoids?

Answer 34

All apes, including humans

Question 35

What are the characteristics of Colobines (3)?

Answer 35

1) Special stomachs 2) Leaf-eating 3) Reduced/absent thumbs

Question 36

What are the characteristics of Cercopithecines (2)?

Answer 36

1) Cheek pouches 2) Female philopatry and strong FF bonds

Question 37

What are the characteristics of Hominoids (2)?

Answer 37

1) Scapula oriented on back of rib cage 2) Broad, shallow rib cage

Question 38

What are some traits of Plesiadapiforms (4)?

Answer 38

1) Long fingers 2) Claws 3) Arboreal 4) No postorbital bar/convergent orbits

Question 39

What happened during the Eocene?

Answer 39

(56-34 mya) Tropical rainforests spread into higher latitudes

Question 40

When did the Platyrrhines/NWMs emerge?

Answer 40

During the Oligocene (35 mya), when land broke off in America and floated across the ocean to Brazil

Question 41

When did the primate order arise?

Answer 41

65 mya (or earlier)

Question 42

How many species and subspecies of primates exist?

Answer 42

~685

Question 43

Where do primates live?

Answer 43

In Africa, Asia, South/Central America (tropical forests)

Question 44

Who was the first scholar to identify humans as primates?

Answer 44

Linneaus

Question 45

When did the last common ancestor (LCA) of chimpanzees, bonobos, and humans live?

Answer 45

~6-9 mya

Question 46

What were some of the characteristics of the LCA of pan and humans?

Answer 46

1) Black-haired 2) Chimp-sized 3) Fruit/leaf eating 4) Knuckle-walking 5) Ape-sized brain

Question 47

Who was Louis Leakey?

Answer 47

1960s paleoanthropologist who sent researchers to study primates in the wild (Jane Goodall, Diane Fossey)

Question 48

What is adaptive radiation?

Answer 48

Evolutionary process by which a species diversifies to occupy different ecological niches

Question 49

What are the 3 hypotheses on the usefulness of primate traits (primate origin theories)?

Answer 49

1) Arboreal hypothesis 2) Visual predation hypothesis 3) Angiosperm coevolution hypothesis

Question 50

Explain the arboreal hypothesis and its criticisms

Answer 50

1) Increased visual capacity allows for primates to live in complex, 3D environments 2) Criticisms: other non-primate animals have been very successful in arboreal settings

Question 51

Explain the angiosperm coevolution hypothesis

Answer 51

Primate traits are useful for grasping fruits and flowers, which results in seed dispersal