ANT100Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: List Of Fossil Primates, Paleocene, Tertiary
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ANT100Y1 Full Course Notes
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General patterns of morphology and phylogenetics for fossil primates. What a hominin is in terms of taxonomy. Due to instructor evaluations, we may not get through everything tonight. Body size: tiny, shrew-sized to size of small dog. Niche: likely solitary, nocturnal quadrupeds; well-developed sense of smell. Used to be classified as primates because of primate-like teeth and limbs that are adapted for arboreal lifestyle. Recent: plesiadapids not primates: no postorbital bar, claws instead of nails, More recent: plesiadapids & few others are primates. Mainly arboreal quadrupeds, some may have been specialized leapers. Smaller adapids ate mostly fruit and insects, larger forms ate more fruit and leaves. Body size of 45 g to 2500 g. Teeth: adapted for eating insects and soft fruits, only few species were leaf-eaters. Led to tarsiers: eyes placed on side of head, , enlarged incisors. Three (3) haplorhine features: fused frontal bone, full postorbital closure, & fused mandibular symphasis.
