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Prior to the `last common ancestor'
pete (VINCENT@REG.TRIUMF.CA)
3 Nov 1995 02:50:54 GMT
Can anyone tell me about the current state of understanding of
known candidates for hominoid precursors before the poorly
known 14-5Mya period. What sort of apes were there, how well
represented are their fossil remains, etc. We talked here a
little bit about oreo-, dryo-, rama-, and sivapithecus, about
two months ago, but I'm curious to know more. Do we have a
clear idea of when apes lost their tails, and became separate
from catarhine(sp) monkeys? I'm assuming that as apes are
closer to catarhines than platyrhines, that they branched off
after the separation of lemurs, and then platyrhines, had already
occurred. I remember a classic full skeletal fossil discovery
in Italy, I think it was a dryopithecus, which was known back
when I was in school 25ya. How many more post cranial examples
are there of the earlier apes?
Do we have enough remains to say what sort of locomotion these
creatures were likely to have used?
(Trying to open some new avenues of discussion...)
--
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vincent@triumf.ca <== faster % Pete Vincent
vincent@freenet.vancouver.bc.ca % Disclaimer: all I know I
% learned from reading Usenet.
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