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Year 3: Primate Ecology and Behaviour > Primate taxonomy > Flashcards

Primate taxonomy Flashcards

1
Q

In the old classification system, what 2 suborders come under the order Primate?

A
  1. Prosimii

2. Anthropoidea

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2
Q

What 3 infraorders come under prosimii?

A
  1. Lemuriformes
  2. Lorisiformes
  3. Tarsiiformes
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3
Q

What 2 infraorders come under anthropoidea?

A
  1. Platyrrhini

2. Catarrhini

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4
Q

In the new classification system, what 2 suborders come under Primate?

A
  1. Strepsirhini

2. Haplorhini

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5
Q

What infraorders come under strepsirhini?

A

Lemuriformes and lorisiformes.

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6
Q

What infraorders come under haplorhini?

A

Tarsiiformes and simiformes (containing platyrrhini and catarrhini)

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7
Q

What 2 features group the tarsier, of the genus tarsus, the only member of the tarsiiformes, with the strepsirrhines?

A
  1. Leave their infants in trees instead of constant carrying

2. Nocturnal

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8
Q

What 5 features group the tarsier with the haplorhines?

A
  1. Dry nose
  2. Complex brain
  3. Lacks the tapetum
  4. Faunivorous
  5. Cannot synthesise own vitamin C
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9
Q

Which superfamily comes under the platyrhines? What does it contain?

A

Ceboidea: the New World monkeys

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10
Q

Within the superfamiy ceboidea, what are the 3 families?

A
  1. Callitrichidae
  2. Atelidae
  3. Cebidae
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11
Q

What groups does callitrichidae contain?

A

Marmosets and tamarins.

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12
Q

What groups does atelidae contain?

A

Howlers, spider monkeys and muriquis.

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13
Q

Which 2 superfamilies come under the catarrhines?

A
  1. Cercopithecoidea

2. Hominoidea

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14
Q

Within the superfamily cercopithecoidea, what is the family?

A

Cercopithecidae.

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15
Q

Within the family cercopithecidae, what are the 2 subfamilies?

A
  1. Cercopithecinae

2. Colobinae

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16
Q

What are the cercopithecines?

A

Baboons, macaques, vervets and guenons.

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17
Q

What are the colobines?

A

Langurs, colobus and proboscis monkeys.

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18
Q

Under the new classification system, what are the 2 families within the superfamily hominoidea?

A
  1. Hylobatidae

2. Hominidae

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19
Q

What are the hylobatids?

A

Gibbons and siamangs

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20
Q

Within the family hominidae, what are the 2 subfamilies? (according to the new classification system)

A
  1. Ponginae

2. Homininae

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21
Q

What comes under ponginae?

A

The orangutan

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22
Q

What comes under homininae?

A

Gorilla, pan and homo

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23
Q

Homininae can be split into 2 distinct tribes. What are they?

A

Gorillini and hominini

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24
Q

What groups does hominini contain?

A

Pan (chimps and bonobos) and humans

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25
Q

What is characteristic of platyrhine nostrils?

A

Round, side-wards facing, ‘flat and simple’

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26
Q

What is characteristic of catarrhine nostrils?

A

Narrow, down-ward facing, ‘comma shaped’

27
Q

Which is the most diverse infraorder within strepsirhini? What percentage of primate diversity do they account for?

A

Lemuriformes, 13%

28
Q

What are 3 characteristics of strepsirhines?

A
  1. Nocturnal
  2. Possess a tapetum: light reflecting membrane in the eye
  3. Wet noses to enhance sense of smell
29
Q

Strepsirhines rely heavily on olfactory cues. How can we tell this? Give 2 reasons.

A
  1. They have large nasal cavities

2. They have scent glands that release chemicals when rubbed on subtrate

30
Q

Within the haplorhines only 1 monkey is nocturnal. What is it?

A

The night monkey (within the platyrrhines)

31
Q

How can we infer from their morphology that haplorhines are diurnal?

A

There is a shift from olfactory to visual dependence; larger, forward-facing eyes and more complex brains

32
Q

With platyrrhini, callitrichids commonly produce twins. True or false?

33
Q

All platyrrhines are arboreal, true or false?

34
Q

Some species of platyrrhines are exudate feeders. Which group?

A

Some callitrichids e.g. marmosets have specialised incisors and guts to eat tree gum

35
Q

Which family of platyrrhines possess prehensile tails?

36
Q

Which subfamily employs suspensory locomotion?

A

Atelinae, containing muriquis and spiders: they hang/swing by the limbs and tails

37
Q

BMRs and brain size vary within the platyrrhines. Compare howlers to capuchins.

A

Howlers are folivorous and have low BMRs and smaller brains due to their energy-poor diet. Capuchins are frugivorous and have higher BMRs and larger brains to match their high-energy diet.

38
Q

Capuchins and squirrel monkeys both have high BMRs and large brains. Compare their development.

A

Capuchins rely on postnatal development and a large investment of parental care.
Squirrel monkeys rely on prenatal development and thus have relatively high birth weights.

39
Q

Within the catarrhines, which group have unique stomachs?

A

The colobines possess sacculated stomachs: the stomach is divided into pouch-like sections and use bacteria to digest plant matter/toxins.

40
Q

Within the catarrhines, which group have cheek pouches and why?

A

The cercopithecines - these are useful in food processing for 2 reasons:

  1. Monkey can shove as much food in as possible before it is displaced, compete for high energy resources
  2. Can store unripe fruit/toxic matter and salivary enzymes can break them down over time
41
Q

Unripe fruits are high energy foods. Why?

A

They contain lots of starch. In the cheek pouches of cercopithecines amylase breaks down starch into glucose, thus there is a rapid mobilisation of energy.

42
Q

All groups under the superfamily hominoidea lack tails. True or false?

43
Q

How do gibbons and siamangs move?

A

They are considered the only true brachiators due to their lack of tails.

44
Q

How do orangutans move?

A

Quadramanual locomotion: they use their hands to hoist themselves up into the canopy.

45
Q

Which genera are knuckle-walkers?

A

Gorilla and pan

46
Q

Which bone bares all the weight in knuckle-walking?

A

The outside of the metacarpal bone.

47
Q

All other quadrapedal primates walk on their knuckles. True or false?

A

False: all other quadrapedal primates walk on their palms.

48
Q

Longer arms than legs indicate what?

A

An upright posture.

49
Q

how long ago did pan and homo split?

A

Approx 5.4mya, there was interbreeding up until this point.

50
Q

CMAH promotes the production of a particular sugar but disrupts brain function. Chimps have CMAH, do we?

A

No, we lost it 2mya, and thus have bigger, more complex brains.

51
Q

FOXP2 promotes motor function of the mouth region. Do chimps have this?

A

No, we developed it 200,000 years ago. It is thought it facilitates our language capabilities.

52
Q

What taxonomic rank does the suffix ‘-dea’ indicate?

A

Superfamily

e.g. cercopithecoidea

53
Q

What taxonomic rank does the suffix ‘-dae’ indicate?

A

Family

e.g. cercopithecidae

54
Q

What taxonomic rank does the suffix ‘-nae’ indicate?

A

Subfamily

e.g. cercopithecinae

55
Q

How many families are there within the lemuriformes? What are they?

A

5

Lemuridae
Lepilemuridae
Cheirogaleidae
Indriidae
Daubentoniidae
56
Q

What does lemuridae contain?

A

Ring-tailed and ruffed lemurs

57
Q

What does lepilemuridae contain?

A

Sportive lemurs

58
Q

What does cheirogaleidae contain?

A

Dwarf and mouse lemurs

59
Q

What does indriidae contain?

A

Indris, avahis and sifakas

60
Q

What does daubentoniidae contain?

61
Q

Under the infraorder lorisiformes, what does the family lorisidae contain?

A

Lorises, pottos and angwantbos

62
Q

How many family are there in the infraorder lorisiformes? What are they?

A

2

Lorisidae
Galagidae

63
Q

What does galagidae contain?

A

Galagos (bush babies)

64
Q

What 3 subfamilies does the family cebidae contain?

A

Cebinae: squirrels and capuchins
Aotinae: night monkeys
Pithecinae: Uakaris and saki monkeys

Year 3: Primate Ecology and Behaviour (16 decks)

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