Chapter 14:

PRIMATE EVOLUTION

PRIMATES

What is a primate?

Features that are unique to primates:

-Present in primates

-Absent in closely related groups

Outgroup Ingroup

Character A present

Character A absent

Synapomorphy

What is a primate?

•Arboreal life:

Grasping hands and feet

Opposable thumb and big toe

Movable arms

Nails

•Visual system:

Depth perception

Large brain size

•Reproductive biology:

High parental investment

Single-offspring births

Long infancy

Delayed sexual maturation

Loris

Tarsier

Lemur

New World

monkeyOld World

monkey

Ape Human

Primates: main transitions

70 Mya

60 Mya

50 Mya

40 Mya

30 Mya

20 Mya

10 Mya

Present

Insectivore or

dermopteran

ancestors

? Purgatorius †

Adapis †

Lemurs, lorises

Tarsiers

New World monkeys

Aegyptopithecus †

Old World monkeys

Proconsul †

African apes

Humans

•Arboreal life

•Nocturnal

•Insectivorous diet

•Encephalization

•Temporal lobe

•Binocularity

•Grasping hands-feet

•Diurnal

•Insectivorous and

•frugivorous diet

•Expansion of neocortex

•Fovea

•Vegetarian diet

•Sexual dimorphism

•Ground dwelling

•Vegetarian or omnivorous

•Large body size

•Long life span

? Plesiadapiformes †

?

Primate taxonomy

Order: Primates

Suborder: Prosimians

-Lemurs

-Lorises,

galagos

-Tarsiers

(Tropical forests

of Asia, Africa)

(Tropical forests of

Borneo, Sumatra,

Sulawesi, Philipines)

(Madagascar)

Autosomal gene-sequencing data

60 Mya

50 Mya

40 Mya

30 Mya

20 Mya

10 Mya

Present

New World monkeys

Old World monkeys

Gorillas

Humans

57.5 Mya

31 Mya

Chimpanzees

8 Mya

4.5 Mya

Order: Primates

Suborder: Anthropoids

-Platyrrhins

-Catarrhins

Cercopitecines

Apes

Humans

Primate taxonomy

South America

Africa, Asia, Europe

Asian apes

Gibbon

Siamang

Orangutan

Asian apes: distribution

Siamangs

African apes

Gorilla

Chimpanzee

Bonobo

Great apes: current geographical distribution

Southeast Asia

Central Africa

What is an ape?

Relative to monkeys, apes:

•Lack an external tail

•Have a more vertical posture

•Have highly flexible limbs

•Have broad chests, short lower backs, mobile hips and ankles

•Have a larger body size

•Exhibit retarded growth and reproduction

•Have larger brains than monkeys

Miocene apes (5-23 Mya)

Ape evolution

Macaques

*Proconsul

Siamangs,

Gibbons

Orangutan

*Sivapithecus

25 Mya

19 Mya

16 Mya

14 Mya

9 Mya

7-5 Mya*Dryopithecus

*Ouranopithecus

Gorilla Chimpanzee,

Bonobo Humans

Lesser apes

superfamily: Hominoidea

family: Hylobatidae Hominidae

subfamily: Ponginae Gorillinae Homininae

tribe: Panini Hominini

species: gibbons

siamangs

orangutans gorillas chimpanzees

bonobos

humans

What is a hominin?

A hominin is a bipedal ape.

Chimpanzees HomininsForamen magnum

Occipital condyle

Vertebrate column

Feet

Pelvis, lower back

Brain size

Face

Canines

Diastema

~5 Mya

Pliocene

Miocene

Behind skull Beneath skull

C-shaped S-shaped

Grasping Flat

Long Short

345-505 cm3 400-1350 cm3

In front of brain Beneath brain

Long Short

Yes No

Posture

Posture

Posture

Posture

Brain evolution

Brain evolution

Sexual behavior

Diet

Trait Function

Divergence between African apes and hominins

EARLY HOMININS

Chimp Bonobos

5-7 Mya

Sahelanthropus

tchadensis

?

?

Ardipithecus

ramidusOrrorin

tugenensis

Homo

sapiens

Bipedalism

Early speciments of uncertain hominin status

Sahelanthropus tchadensis:

*~6.5 Mya

*From Chad, central Africa (not eastern Africa!)

*Less prognathism (typical of hominids)

*Bipedalism uncertain

Orrorin tugenensis:

*~5.8 Mya

*From Kenya, eastern Africa

*Lower jaw fragment

*Bipedalism uncertain

Early speciments of uncertain hominin status

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC9aIth1ah4

Duration: 9.59 min

Ardipithecus ramidus: oldest known hominin VIDEO

Ardipithecus ramidus: oldest known hominin

Ardipithecus ramidus:

*4.4 Mya

*From Ethiopia, eastern Africa

*Bipedal locomotion

*Grasping bit toe

*Small brain

Ardipithecus ramidus: oldest known hominin

Long arms,

suggest

arboreal life

Relatively

small brainHeight:117-124 cm

Weight: 51 Kg

Opposable

big toe

Long pelvis

Relatively

small canines

Long flexible

lower back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypEaGQb6dJk

Duration: 9.33 min

“2001, A Space Odyssey: The Dawn of Man”

(Directed by Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

VIDEO

Chimp Bonobos

5-7 Mya

Bipedalism

Australopithecus

anamensis

Australopithecus

afarensis

Robust

australopithecines

Gracile

australopithecines

*4.1 Mya

*Kenya

*3.0-3.6 Mya

*Tanzania, Ethiopia

Lucy

Basal australopithecines

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju-HoJtPkJ8

Duration: 7.27 min

Lucy VIDEO

Australopithecus

afarensis

Australopithecus

aethiopicus

Australopithecus

robustus

Australopithecus

boisei

*1.8 Mya

*Kenya

*2.5 Mya

*Kenya

*3.0-3.6 Mya

*Tanzania, Ethiopia

Robust australopithecines

*2 Mya

*South Africa

Australopithecus afarensis

Australopithecus africanus

Australopithecus garhi

Homo

Gracile australopithecines

*3-2 Mya

*South Africa

*3.0-3.6 Mya

*Tanzania, Ethiopia

*2.5 Mya

*Ethiopia

HOMO

Chimp Bonobos

5-7 Mya

Bipedalism

Australopithecus

anamensis

Australopithecus

afarensis

Robust Gracile

*4.1 Mya

*Kenya

*3.0-3.6 Mya

*Tanzania, Ethiopia

Homo

Stone tools

Cranial capacity > 600 ml

*2.3-2.5 Mya

*Tanzania, Ethiopia

Early Homo

Hominin evolution: a brief survey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HphLBNGCBNk

Duration: 9.30 min

Evolution - Becoming Human (Donald Johanson)

VIDEO

Oldowan technology (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, Africa)

Gracile

australopithecine

Homo habilis

H. rudolfensis

??

*1.6-1.9 Mya

*Tanzania, Kenya

H. ergaster *1.8-1.9 Mya

*Kenya

Early Homo

Homo ergaster

Homo ergaster: Acheulean technology, 1.4 Mya, Ethiopia

H. ergaster

H. erectus

*1.8-0.2 Mya

*Asia: Georgia, Java, China

*Oldowan technologyH. antecessor

*0.8 Mya

*Spain

H. heidelbergensis *0.6-0.2 Mya

*Zambia, Europe

*1.8-1.9 Mya

*Kenya

Archaic humans

Homo floresiensis

Flores Island

(Indonesia)

H. ergaster

H. erectus

H. heidelbergensis

H. sapiens

H. floresiensis

Homo floresiensis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqCZpeWd5yQ

Duration: 3:24 min

VIDEO

Homo floresiensis VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewI3i5v0LzE

Duration: 3:10 min

Island evolution

Homo neanderthalensis: reconstruction

H. heidelbergensis

H. neanderthalensis H. sapiens

*130-28 Kya

*Europe, Middle East

*Mousterian technology

*<200 Kya

*Ethiopia, South Africa,

worldwide

Recent hominid evolution

*0.6-0.2 Mya

*Zambia, Europe

Homo neanderthalensis: Culture

•Europe, Middle East

•Intentional burials

•Clothing

•Fire

•Care of the injured

•Hunting

•Brain size: 1,200-1,750 cm3

•Mousterian technology

Sapiens Neanderthal

Neanderthal Sapiens

Homo neanderthalensis: Mousterian technology, < 100 Kya, Europe

H. heidelbergensis

H. neanderthalensis H. sapiens

*130-28 Kya

*Europe, Middle East

*Mousterian technology

*<200 Kya

*Ethiopia, South Africa,

worldwide

Recent hominid evolution

*0.6-0.2 Mya

*Zambia, Europe

Denisovans

*40 Kya

*Siberia

Neanderthals, Denisovans, and Humans

https://www.ted.com/talks/svante_paeaebo_dna_clues_to_our_inner_neanderthal#t-808119

Duration: 17.01 min

VIDEO

Multiregional hypothesis

Africa AsiaEurope

Anatomically

modern H. sapiens

genes arise in

many populations

H. erectus

disperses from

Africa

Homo sapiens: the “out-of-Africa” hypothesis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSSzn4bIwZg

Duration: 3.27 min

The human lineage VIDEO

Recent discoveries

Oldowan-like stone tools

2.12 Mya, China

Zhu et al., Nature, 2018,

559, 608-612.

Oldowan stone tools

2.4-1.9 Mya, Algeria

Sahnouni et al., Science, 2018

(10.1126/science.aau0008).

Oldowan stone tools

2.5 Mya, Ethiopia, Tanzania