Re: Prior to the `last common ancestor'
Alex Duncan (aduncan@mail.utexas.edu)
3 Nov 1995 14:31:54 GMT
In article <47c02e$63j@nntp.ucs.ubc.ca> pete, VINCENT@REG.TRIUMF.CA
writes:
>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?
Hey, somebody posted about something other than AAT!
The time period between 14 - 5 Myr is when fossil hominoids from Africa
get really rare. All of the known fossils from that period will fit in
your two hands. There is a good article by Andrew Hill and Steve Ward
addressing exactly this issue. I'll dig around and try to come up with a
more precise reference.
Most hominoid fossils in the time period in question come from Europe and
Asia.
Apes lost their tails by the time of appearance of Proconsul (~20 Myr).
The earliest known hominoid is Kamoyapithecus, dated to about 25 Myr (or
maybe 28, I've forgotten).
Alex Duncan
Dept. of Anthropology
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712-1086
512-471-4206
aduncan@mail.utexas.edu
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