ANT 301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Adapidae, Postorbital Bar, Teilhardina
Document Summary
Primates that appear in holarctic continents at beginning of eocene belong to 2 groups: Migration event: not just one group that moved in but two ^ Short snout: *tetonius, teton range, early eocene, north america, omomyoid, 150-300 g, postorbital bar, large orbits, p-o bar not a good indicator of a strepsirrhine, well-developed molar shearing, projecting pointed anterior teeth. Insectivore/frugivore: ankle morphology shows generalized arboreality (not specialized leaper or slow climber, ecology broadly similar to cheirogaleid lemurs (mouse lemurs/dwarf lemur) Adapoids: *notharctus, adapoid, middle eocene (n. america, 5-7 kg (large sifaka, p-o bar, small orbits (diurnal, molars w well-developed shearing crests: folivore (+frugivory, canine sexual dimorphism. Strong male-male competition: gregarious (permanent social groups, grasping hands and feet with nails instead of claws, limb proportions suggest arboreal quadruped. What do we know about phylogenetic relationships of adapoids: no tooth combs, growing claw, cat scans, likely it is derived for strepsirrhines.
