Prosimians

Question 1

Location of early prosimians

Answer 1

fossils from Paleocene in the NW

Western United States and Europe

Question 2

Location of current prosimians

Answer 2

• Africa
• Asia
• Madagascar

Question 3

Prosimians on Madagascar - characteristics

Answer 3

• don’t have to compete with monkeys
• got there 50 million yrs ago
• adaptive radiation - filled all the niches and habitats in the country

Question 4

3 superfamilies of prosimians

Answer 4

1) Lorisoidea (lrois, potto and galago)
2) Lemuroidia (lemurs, indri, sifaka, aye-aye)
3) Tarsiodea (tarsiers)

Question 5

Classifying the tarsier

Answer 5

Prosimian-like qualities: nocturnal, solitary/pair living, grooming claw, multiple nipples, bicornuate uterus
Monkey-like qualities: diurnal ancestors, no tapetum, no rhinarium, single offspring, hemochorial placenta

Question 6

Basic prosimian characteristics

• size
• socialness
• night or day active
• number of teeth
• breeding habits
• placenta
• movement
• eye characteristics

Answer 6

-smaller than anthropoids
-less social
-nocturnal mostly; diurnal ones in Madagascar
-36 teeth
-dental comb to eat sap
-seasonal breeders
-epithelialchroial placenta (except tarsier)
-tapetum (in nocturnal species)
-vertical clinging and leaping
-

Question 7

Galago

• location
• night active or day active
• social habits
• eat?
• birthing
• special characteristic

Answer 7

• Africa
• live in forests with monkeys
• night active
• solitary
• bug eaters
• 2 babies at a time
• baby parking (humans have reverted back to this)

Question 8

Lemurs

Answer 8

Mouse lemur
true lemur
ring-tailed lemur
indri/sifaka
aye-aye

Question 9

mouse lemur

-social behavior

Answer 9

• Smallest primate of them all
• males are territorial - assertive and take over part of forest so other males can’t mate with females
• more social than other lemurs
• males hit puberty, they get kicked out find a way back

Question 10

aye-aye

Answer 10

have a different dental make-up (1-0-0-3) to bit through bark and coconuts

Question 11

tarsier

Answer 11

• sumatra, borneo and phillippines
• big eyes - try to see at night with tapetum
• carnivorous
• can spin head 180 degrees
• long leg bones for jumping

Question 12

Sportive lemur

Answer 12

omnivorous

coprophagia - eating poop (primates that became vegetarians had to find a way to ferment leaves)

Question 13

Effect of body size in Madagascar lemurs

Answer 13

small lemurs: nocturnal, solitary, eat bugs/sap/fruit/flowers, males dominate, nests and baby parking
larger lemurs: diurnal, small groups, fruit/sap/leaves, females dominate, ventral carrying
**Why? natural selection - need to be bigger than predator