˗ˏˋ primates ´ˎ˗

Question 1

what class are primates in?

Answer 1

• class mammalia
• having fur or hair
• producing milk from mammary glands
• being warm-blooded

Question 2

how old is the primate order?

Answer 2

about 90 million years old.

Question 3

what is homology?

Answer 3

a similar trait found in different species because it was inherited from a common ancestor.

Question 4

what is analogy?

Answer 4

a similar trait found in different species that arose independently.

Question 5

what is a clade?

Answer 5

• a grouping based on ancestral relationships; a branch of the evolutionary tree
• the african clade grouping of humans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos

Question 6

what is the asian clade?

Answer 6

a grouping that includes orangutans and their extinct relatives.

Question 7

what are grades?

Answer 7

• a grouping based on overall similarity in lifestyle, appearance, and behavior.
• placing orangutans, gorillas, bonobos, and chimpanzees into a group, and excluding humans.

Question 8

what are ancestral traits?

Answer 8

a trait that has been inherited from a distant ancestor.

Question 9

what are derived traits?

Answer 9

a trait that has been recently modified, most helpful when assigning taxonomic classification.

Question 10

what are generalized traits?

Answer 10

• a trait that is useful for a wide range of tasks
• opposable thumbs

Question 11

what are specialized traits?

Answer 11

• a trait that has been modified for a specific purpose
• horse hooves for running

Question 12

what are primate traits?

Answer 12

• reliance on vision (many primates can see in trichromatic color, meaning reds, blues, yellows, and greens)
• postorbital bar (a bony ring that surrounds the eye socket, open at the back)
• large brains
• extended life histories
• arboreal
• tactile pads
• short snouts
• live in tropics
• pentadactyly

Question 13

what are evolutionary trade-offs?

Answer 13

when an organism, which is limited in the time and energy it can put into aspects of its biology and behavior, is shaped by natural selection to invest in one adaptation at the expense of another.

Question 14

what does it mean to be arboreal?

Answer 14

a descriptor for an organism that spends most of its time in trees.

Question 15

what does it mean to be pentadactyly?

Answer 15

having five digits or fingers and toes.

Question 16

what are tactile pads?

Answer 16

• sensitive skin at the fingertips for sense of touch
• animals with a prehensile tail have a tactile pad on the underside of the tail as well

Question 17

what does it mean to be heterodont?

Answer 17

having different types of teeth.

Question 18

what does it mean to be homodont?

Answer 18

having only one type of tooth.

Question 19

what does it mean to be sexually dimorphic?

Answer 19

when a species exhibits sex differences in morphology, behavior, hormones, and/or coloration.

Question 20

what is a diastema?

Answer 20

a space between the teeth, usually for large canines to fit when the mouth is closed.

Question 21

what is a dental formula?

Answer 21

• the number of each type of tooth in one quadrant of the mouth, written as number of incisors: canines: premolars: molars
• 2:1:3:3 (new world monkeys)
• 2:1:2:3 (old world monkeys, apes, humans)

Question 22

what are frugivores?

Answer 22

• having a diet of mainly fruit
• broad molars, rounded cusps
• intermediate digestive systems

Question 23

what are insectivores?

Answer 23

• having a diet of mainly insects
• small molars, pointed cusps
• simple stomachs

Question 24

what are folivores

Answer 24

• having a diet of mainly leaves
• broad molars, sharp cusps
• specialized digestive systems

Question 25

what are gummivores?

Answer 25

having a diet consisting primarily of gums and saps.

Question 26

what is an activity pattern?

Answer 26

• refers to the time of day an animal is typically active
• diurnal (daytime)
• nocturnal (nighttime)
• cathemeral (24-hours)

Question 27

what is locomotion?

Answer 27

• how an organism moves around
• vertical climbing/leaping (animal grasps a vertical branch with its body upright, pushes off with long hind legs, and then lands on another vertical support branch)
• quadrupedalism (four legs)
• bipedal (two legs)
• brachiation (organism swings below branches using the forelimbs)
• semi-brachiation (organism swings below branches using a combination of forelimbs and prehensile tail)

Question 28

what is the gibon?

Answer 28

• one of the lesser apes
• 20 species
• geographic range from eastern bangladesh to northern india to southern china and indonesia
• typically mate for life
• use brachiation for 80% of movement

Question 29

what is the suborder strepsirrhini?

Answer 29

• long snout
• wet nose (for scent marking)
• small bodies
• solitary (lives alone)
• grooming claw
• tooth comb
• two groups split 65 mya (the lemurs and lorises, pottos, and galagos)

Question 30

what is the suborder haplorrhini?

Answer 30

• good vision
• short, dry nose
• large brains and bodies
• broad teeth
• quadrupedal
• sexual dimorphism (body and canine size)
• in social groups
• divided into three infraorders (tarsiiformes, platyrrhini, and catarrhini)

Question 31

what does it mean to be monomorphic?

Answer 31

when males and females of a species do not exhibit significant sexual dimorphism.

Question 32

what are the tarsiiformes of asia?

Answer 32

• dry nose
• eyes close together
• vertical leapers
• nocturnal
• small
• large eyes
• grooming claws
• faunivorous
• a haplorrhine

Question 33

what are the platyrrhini of central and south america?

Answer 33

• “new world monkeys”
• flat nose
• round, pointed nostrils
• highly arboreal
• less sexually dimorphic
• 2:1:3:3 dental formula
• polymorphic color vision (males being dichromatic and females being either trichromatic or dichromatic)

Question 34

what are the catarrhini of asia and africa?

Answer 34

• teardrop-shaped nose
• downward-pointing nostrils
• large bodies
• sexually dimorphic
• terrestrial
• 2:1:2:3 dental formula
• trichromatic color vision

Question 35

what are the cercopithecoidea of africa and asia?

Answer 35

• quadrupedal
• molars with two ridges
• seat pads
• geographically widespread
• two groups (leaf and cheek-pouch monkeys)

Question 36

what are the hominoidea of africa and asia?

Answer 36

• y-5 molars
• brachiation
• slow life history
• consists of the hylobatidae, pongo, gorilla, pan, and homo

Question 37

what is the hylobatidae of southeast asia

Answer 37

• lesser apes
• pair bonded
• low sexual dimorphism
• gibbons (around 13 pounds, fruigvores)
• siammangs (around 25 pounds, folivores, throat sacs)

Question 38

what is the pongo of southeast asia?

Answer 38

• orangutans
• frugivorous
• diurnal
• solitary
• highly sexually dimorphic
• male bimaturism (alternative reproductive strategies in orangutans in which males can delay maturation, sometimes indefinitely, until a fully mature, “flanged” male disappears)
• sagittal crest (a bony ridge along the top/middle of the skull, used for attachment of chewing muscles)

Question 39

what is the gorilla of africa?

Answer 39

• folivores
• knuckle-walking
• sexual dimorphism
• live in groups (females with one male silverback)

Question 40

what is the pan of africa?

Answer 40

• frugivores
• knuckle-walking
• fission-fusion
• moderate sexual dimorphism
• split into two species (chimpanzee and bonobo)

Question 41

what is the homo?

Answer 41

• no tail
• brachiation-adapatations
• y-5 molars
• extended life history
• large brain
• shared DNA (98% with pan, 96% with gorilla)