ANT203H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: List Of Fossil Primates, Paleoanthropology, Paleocene
Document Summary
Recap: paleoanthropology: the study of ancient humans (hominin evolution, multidisciplinary science involving biological anthropologists, archaeologists, paleontologists, palecologists, geologists, and others. Identification and surveying of sites: typical paleoanthropological expedition. Body fossils vs trace fossils: hominin fossils. Mostly fossilized by replacement, cast and mold, or impression: dating. The evolution of primates can be traced back to the late cretaceous/early paleocene (75- Mesozoic: triassic 250-200mya: early dinosaurs evolve, first egg-laying mammals (monotremes) appear, jurassic 200mya-145mya: first placental mammals evolve (small, shrew-like animals, cretaceous 145-65mya: dinosaur radiation. Primate synapomorphies (shared derived traits: increased reliance on vision: convergent orbits and postorbital bar/closure, hand and foot adaptations for grasping, dental characteristics. But these traits do not all evolve at the same time. Primate ancestors? living primates most closely related to colugos (flying lemurs and tree shrews) Primates probably evolved from a small, ground-dwelling shrew-like insectivorous mammals.
