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Abstract
The primate foot functions as a grasping organ. As such, its bones, soft tissues, and joints evolved to maximize power and stability in a variety of grasping configurations. Humans are the obvious exception to this primate pattern, with feet that evolved to support the unique biomechanical demands of bipedal locomotion. Of key functional importance to bipedalism is the morphology of the joints at the forefoot, known as the metatarsophalangeal joints (MTPJs), but a comprehensive analysis of hominin MTPJ morphology is currently lacking. Here we present the results of a multivariate shape and Bayesian phylogenetic comparative analyses of metatarsals (MTs) from a broad selection of anthropoid primates (including fossil apes and stem catarrhines) and most of the early hominin pedal fossil record, including the oldest hominin for which good pedal remains exist, Ardipithecus ramidus Results corroborate the importance of specific bony morphologies such as dorsal MT head expansion and "doming" to the evolution of terrestrial bipedalism in hominins. Further, our evolutionary models reveal that the MT1 of Ar. ramidus shifts away from the reconstructed optimum of our last common ancestor with apes, but not necessarily in the direction of modern humans. However, the lateral rays of Ar. ramidus are transformed in a more human-like direction, suggesting that they were the digits first recruited by hominins into the primary role of terrestrial propulsion. This pattern of evolutionary change is seen consistently throughout the evolution of the foot, highlighting the mosaic nature of pedal evolution and the emergence of a derived, modern hallux relatively late in human evolution.
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Patel BA, Yapuncich GS, Tran C, Nengo IO. Catarrhine hallucal metatarsals from the early Miocene site of Songhor, Kenya. J Hum Evol 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.03.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Gilbert CC, Patel BA, Singh NP, Campisano CJ, Fleagle JG, Rust KL, Patnaik R. New sivaladapid primate from Lower Siwalik deposits surrounding Ramnagar (Jammu and Kashmir State), India. J Hum Evol 2016; 102:21-41. [PMID: 28012462 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2016] [Revised: 10/10/2016] [Accepted: 10/11/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Over the past century, numerous vertebrate fossils collected near the town of Ramnagar, India, have proven to be important for understanding the evolution and biogeography of many mammalian groups. Primates from Ramnagar, though rare, include a number of hominoid specimens attributable to Sivapithecus, as well as a single published mandibular fragment preserving the P4-M1 of the Miocene adapoid Sivaladapis palaeindicus. Since 2010, we have renewed fossil prospecting in the Lower Siwalik deposits near Ramnagar in an attempt to better understand the evolution, biogeographic timing, and paleoclimatic context of mammalian radiations in Asia, with a particular focus on primates. Our explorations have resulted in the identification of new fossil localities, including the site of Sunetar. The age of Sunetar and the Ramnagar region, in general, is tentatively dated between 14 and 11 Ma. In 2014, a partial right mandible of a sivaladapid primate was recovered at Sunetar, preserving the corpus with P4 roots and worn M1-M3 dentition. Although sivaladapids are known by numerous specimens of two genera (Sivaladapis and Indraloris) at Lower Siwalik sites on the Potwar Plateau (Pakistan) and at the Middle Siwalik locality of Haritalyangar (India), this new specimen is just the second sivaladapid recovered from the Ramnagar region. Our analyses suggest that the new specimen is distinct from all other sivaladapids, and we therefore describe it as a new genus and species close to the base of the Sivaladapinae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher C Gilbert
- Department of Anthropology, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA; PhD Programs in Anthropology and Biology, Graduate Center of the City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, NY 10016, USA; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Biren A Patel
- Department of Cell and Neurobiology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA; Human and Evolutionary Biology Section, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | - N Premjit Singh
- Department of Geology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160 014, India
| | - Christopher J Campisano
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA; Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - John G Fleagle
- Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA
| | - Kathleen L Rust
- Department of Anthropology, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Rajeev Patnaik
- Department of Geology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160 014, India
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New euprimate postcrania from the early Eocene of Gujarat, India, and the strepsirrhine–haplorhine divergence. J Hum Evol 2016; 99:25-51. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.06.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2016] [Revised: 06/24/2016] [Accepted: 06/30/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Morphological Diversity in the Digital Rays of Primate Hands. DEVELOPMENTS IN PRIMATOLOGY: PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-3646-5_4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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Patel BA, Wallace IJ, Boyer DM, Granatosky MC, Larson SG, Stern JT. Distinct functional roles of primate grasping hands and feet during arboreal quadrupedal locomotion. J Hum Evol 2015; 88:79-84. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2015] [Revised: 08/31/2015] [Accepted: 09/01/2015] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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Seiffert ER, Costeur L, Boyer DM. Primate tarsal bones from Egerkingen, Switzerland, attributable to the middle Eocene adapiform Caenopithecus lemuroides. PeerJ 2015; 3:e1036. [PMID: 26131376 PMCID: PMC4485257 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2015] [Accepted: 05/29/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The middle Eocene species Caenopithecus lemuroides, known solely from the Egerkingen fissure fillings in Switzerland, was the first Paleogene fossil primate to be correctly identified as such (by Ludwig Rütimeyer in 1862), but has long been represented only by fragmentary mandibular and maxillary remains. More recent discoveries of adapiform fossils in other parts of the world have revealed Caenopithecus to be a biogeographic enigma, as it is potentially more closely related to Eocene adapiforms from Africa, Asia, and North America than it is to any known European forms. More anatomical evidence is needed, however, to provide robust tests of such phylogenetic hypotheses. Here we describe and analyze the first postcranial remains that can be attributed to C. lemuroides-an astragalus and three calcanei held in the collections of the Naturhistorisches Museum Basel that were likely recovered from Egerkingen over a century ago. Qualitative and multivariate morphometric analyses of these elements suggest that C. lemuroides was even more loris-like than European adapines such as Adapis and Leptadapis, and was not simply an adapine with an aberrant dentition. The astragalus of Caenopithecus is similar to that of younger Afradapis from the late Eocene of Egypt, and parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses that include the new tarsal data strongly support the placement of Afradapis and Caenopithecus as sister taxa to the exclusion of all other known adapiforms, thus implying that dispersal between Europe and Africa occurred during the middle Eocene. The new tarsal evidence, combined with previously known craniodental fossils, allows us to reconstruct C. lemuroides as having been an arboreal and highly folivorous 1.5-2.5 kg primate that likely moved slowly and deliberately with little or no capacity for acrobatic leaping, presumably maintaining consistent powerful grasps on branches in both above-branch and inverted postures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik R Seiffert
- Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University , Stony Brook, NY , USA
| | - Loïc Costeur
- Department of Geosciences, Naturhistorisches Museum Basel , Basel , Switzerland
| | - Doug M Boyer
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University , Durham, NC , USA
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Byron CD, Herrel A, Pauwels E, Muynck AD, Patel BA. Mouse hallucal metatarsal cross‐sectional geometry in a simulated fine branch niche. J Morphol 2015; 276:759-65. [DOI: 10.1002/jmor.20376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2014] [Revised: 01/03/2015] [Accepted: 01/24/2015] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Anthony Herrel
- Departement d'Ecologie et de Gestion de la BiodiversiteCNRS/MNHNParis France
- Department of Vertebrate Evolutionary MorphologyGhent UniversityGent Belgium
| | - Elin Pauwels
- Department of Physics and AstronomyGhent UniversityUGCTGhent Belgium
| | - Amelie De Muynck
- Department of Physics and AstronomyGhent UniversityUGCTGhent Belgium
| | - Biren A. Patel
- Department of Cell and NeurobiologyKeck School of Medicine, University of Southern CaliforniaLos Angeles California
- Human and Evolutionary Biology SectionDepartment of Biological SciencesUniversity of Southern CaliforniaLos Angeles California
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Patel BA, Larson SG, Stern JT. Electromyography of crural and pedal muscles in tufted capuchin monkeys (Sapajus apella): Implications for hallucal grasping behavior and first metatarsal morphology in euprimates. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2015; 156:553-64. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22723] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2014] [Revised: 02/03/2015] [Accepted: 02/03/2015] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Biren A. Patel
- Department of Cell and Neurobiology, Keck School of Medicine; University of Southern California; Los Angeles CA 90033
- Human and Evolutionary Biology Section, Department of Biological Sciences; University of Southern California; Los Angeles CA 90089
| | - Susan G. Larson
- Department of Anatomical Sciences; Stony Brook University School of Medicine; Stony Brook NY 17794
| | - Jack T. Stern
- Department of Anatomical Sciences; Stony Brook University School of Medicine; Stony Brook NY 17794
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Gebo DL, Smith R, Dagosto M, Smith T. Additional postcranial elements of Teilhardina belgica: the oldest European primate. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2014; 156:388-406. [PMID: 25388600 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2014] [Accepted: 10/28/2014] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Teilhardina belgica is one of the earliest fossil primates ever recovered and the oldest fossil primate from Europe. As such, this taxon has often been hypothesized as a basal tarsiiform on the basis of its primitive dental formula with four premolars and a simplified molar cusp pattern. Until recently [see Rose et al.: Am J Phys Anthropol 146 (2011) 281-305; Gebo et al.: J Hum Evol 63 (2012) 205-218], little was known concerning its postcranial anatomy with the exception of its well-known tarsals. In this article, we describe additional postcranial elements for T. belgica and compare these with other tarsiiforms and with primitive adapiforms. The forelimb of T. belgica indicates an arboreal primate with prominent forearm musculature, good elbow rotational mobility, and a horizontal, rather than a vertical body posture. The lateral hand positions imply grasps adaptive for relatively large diameter supports given its small body size. The hand is long with very long fingers, especially the middle phalanges. The hindlimb indicates foot inversion capabilities, frequent leaping, arboreal quadrupedalism, climbing, and grasping. The long and well-muscled hallux can be coupled with long lateral phalanges to reconstruct a foot with long grasping digits. Our phyletic analysis indicates that we can identify several postcranial characteristics shared in common for stem primates as well as note several derived postcranial characters for Tarsiiformes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel L Gebo
- Department of Anthropology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, 60115
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Goodenberger KE, Boyer DM, Orr CM, Jacobs RL, Femiani JC, Patel BA. Functional morphology of the hallucal metatarsal with implications for inferring grasping ability in extinct primates. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2014; 156:327-48. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22652] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2014] [Revised: 10/14/2014] [Accepted: 10/16/2014] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Doug M. Boyer
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology; Duke University; Durham NC 27708
| | - Caley M. Orr
- Department of Anatomy; Midwestern University; Downers Grove IL 60515
| | - Rachel L. Jacobs
- Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences; Stony Brook University; Stony Brook NY 11794
| | - John C. Femiani
- Fulton Schools of Engineering; Arizona State University Polytechnic Campus; Mesa AZ 85212
| | - Biren A. Patel
- Department of Cell and Neurobiology, Keck School of Medicine; University of Southern California; Los Angeles CA 90033
- Human and Evolutionary Biology Section, Department of Biological Sciences; University of Southern California; Los Angeles CA 90089
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Boyer DM, Yapuncich GS, Chester SG, Bloch JI, Godinot M. Hands of early primates. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2013; 152 Suppl 57:33-78. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Doug M. Boyer
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology; Duke University; Durham NC
- New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology; New York NY
| | - Gabriel S. Yapuncich
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology; Duke University; Durham NC
- New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology; New York NY
| | - Stephen G.B. Chester
- New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology; New York NY
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, Brooklyn College; CUNY; Brooklyn NY
| | - Jonathan I. Bloch
- Florida Museum of Natural History; University of Florida; Gainesville FL
| | - Marc Godinot
- Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes; UMR; 5143 Paris France
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Gladman JT, Boyer DM, Simons EL, Seiffert ER. A calcaneus attributable to the primitive late Eocene anthropoid Proteopithecus sylviae: phenetic affinities and phylogenetic implications. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2013; 151:372-97. [PMID: 23794332 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2012] [Accepted: 02/24/2013] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
A well-preserved calcaneus referrable to Proteopithecus sylviae from the late Eocene Quarry L-41 in the Fayum Depression, Egypt, provides new evidence relevant to this taxon's uncertain phylogenetic position. We assess morphological affinities of the new specimen using three-dimensional geometric morphometric analyses with a comparative sample of primate calcanei representing major extinct and extant radiations (n = 58 genera, 106 specimens). Our analyses reveal that the calcaneal morphology of Proteopithecus is most similar to that of the younger Fayum parapithecid Apidium. Principal components analysis places Apidium and Proteopithecus in an intermediate position between primitive euprimates and crown anthropoids, based primarily on landmark configurations corresponding to moderate distal elongation, a more distal position of the peroneal tubercle, and a relatively "unflexed" calcaneal body. Proteopithecus and Apidium are similar to cercopithecoids and some omomyiforms in having an ectal facet that is more tightly curved, along with a larger degree of proximal calcaneal elongation, whereas other Fayum anthropoids, platyrrhines and adapiforms have a more open facet with less proximal elongation. The similarity to cercopithecoids is most plausibly interpreted as convergence given the less tightly curved ectal facets of stem catarrhines. The primary similarities between Proteopithecus and platyrrhines are mainly in the moderate distal elongation and the more distal position of the peroneal tubercle, both of which are not unique to these groups. Proteopithecus and Apidium exhibit derived anthropoid features, but also a suite of primitive retentions. The calcaneal morphology of Proteopithecus is consistent with our cladistic analysis, which places proteopithecids as a sister group of Parapithecoidea.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin T Gladman
- Department of Anthropology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY 10016-4309, USA.
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Boyer DM, Seiffert ER, Gladman JT, Bloch JI. Evolution and allometry of calcaneal elongation in living and extinct primates. PLoS One 2013; 8:e67792. [PMID: 23844094 PMCID: PMC3701013 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0067792] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2013] [Accepted: 05/22/2013] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Specialized acrobatic leaping has been recognized as a key adaptive trait tied to the origin and subsequent radiation of euprimates based on its observed frequency in extant primates and inferred frequency in extinct early euprimates. Hypothesized skeletal correlates include elongated tarsal elements, which would be expected to aid leaping by allowing for increased rates and durations of propulsive acceleration at takeoff. Alternatively, authors of a recent study argued that pronounced distal calcaneal elongation of euprimates (compared to other mammalian taxa) was related primarily to specialized pedal grasping. Testing for correlations between calcaneal elongation and leaping versus grasping is complicated by body size differences and associated allometric affects. We re-assess allometric constraints on, and the functional significance of, calcaneal elongation using phylogenetic comparative methods, and present an evolutionary hypothesis for the evolution of calcaneal elongation in primates using a Bayesian approach to ancestral state reconstruction (ASR). Results show that among all primates, logged ratios of distal calcaneal length to total calcaneal length are inversely correlated with logged body mass proxies derived from the area of the calcaneal facet for the cuboid. Results from phylogenetic ANOVA on residuals from this allometric line suggest that deviations are explained by degree of leaping specialization in prosimians, but not anthropoids. Results from ASR suggest that non-allometric increases in calcaneal elongation began in the primate stem lineage and continued independently in haplorhines and strepsirrhines. Anthropoid and lorisid lineages show stasis and decreasing elongation, respectively. Initial increases in calcaneal elongation in primate evolution may be related to either development of hallucal-grasping or a combination of grasping and more specialized leaping behaviors. As has been previously suggested, subsequent increases in calcaneal elongation are likely adaptations for more effective acrobatic leaping, highlighting the importance of this behavior in early euprimate evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Doug M Boyer
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America.
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Boyer DM, Seiffert ER. Patterns of astragalar fibular facet orientation in extant and fossil primates and their evolutionary implications. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2013; 151:420-47. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2013] [Accepted: 03/28/2013] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Doug M. Boyer
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology; Duke University; Durham; NC; 27708
| | - Erik R. Seiffert
- Department of Anatomical Sciences; Stony Brook University, Health Sciences Center T-8; Stony Brook; NY; 11794-8081
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Abstract
The peculiar mammalian fauna that inhabited Afro-Arabia during the Paleogene first came to the attention of the scientific community in the early part of the twentieth century, when Andrews1 and Schlosser2 published their landmark descriptions of fossil mammals from the Fayum Depression in northern Egypt. Their studies revealed a highly endemic assemblage of land mammals that included the first known Paleogene records of hyraxes, proboscideans, and anthropoid primates, but which lacked ancestors of many iconic mammalian lineages that are found in Africa today, such as rhinos, zebras, bovids, giraffes, and cats. Over the course of the last century, the Afro-Arabian Paleogene has yielded fossil remains of several other endemic mammalian lineages,3 as well as a diversity of prosimian primates,4 but we are only just beginning to understand how the continent's faunal composition came to be, through ancient processes such as the movement of tectonic plates, changes in climate and sea level, and early phylogenetic splits among the major groups of placental mammals. These processes, in turn, made possible chance dispersal events that were critical in determining the competitive landscape--and, indeed, the survival--of our earliest anthropoid ancestors. Newly discovered fossils indicate that the persistence and later diversification of Anthropoidea was not an inevitable result of the clade's competitive isolation or adaptive superiority, as has often been assumed, but rather was as much due to the combined influences of serendipitous geographic conditions, global cooling, and competition with a group of distantly related extinct strepsirrhines with anthropoid-like adaptations known as adapiforms. Many of the important details of this story would not be known, and could never have been predicted, without the fossil evidence that has recently been unearthed by field paleontologists.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik R Seiffert
- Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, USA.
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