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Animals
Classifying the tree of life
Monophyletic (Cladistics)
Paraphyletic (Linnaean Taxonomy)
Our branch
The primates • Opposable thumb and big toe
– assists in grasping and manipulation behaviors
– adaptation to arboreal lifestyle • Flat nails instead of claws, with
dermatoglyphs (fingerprints) on fingers and toes.
• Hindlimb-dominated locomotion. • Relative reduction in the olfactory
sensory system (smaller snouts) as compared to other mammalian orders.
• Increased reliance on visual sensation. – Forward-facing eyes
• Tendency toward smaller litter size, longer gestation times, and extended period of juvenile growth.
• Increased period of maternal investment and care.
• Relatively large brains. • Reduced number of teeth, with a
maximum of two incisors, one canine, three premolars, and three molars in each jaw quadrant.
Primate origins
65 MYA
Primate origins
• Molecular clock: ~ 90 MYA • Mass extinction event: ~ 65 MYA • Earliest fossil: ~ 55 MYA
Dating methods
• Uranium-Lead – Starting the clock: Zircon (ZrSiO4) incorporates
uranium during formation at high temperatures, but not lead.
– Ticking of the clock: Uranium-238 decays to Lead-208 (half-life = 4.47 billion years). Uranium-235 -> Lead-207 (half-life = 704 million years).
Dating methods
• Potassium-argon – Starting the clock: Gaseous argon escapes during
formation from molten rock, but potassium does not.
– Ticking of the clock: Potassium-40 decays to Argon-40 (half-life: 1.26 billion years).
• Argon-argon – Sample irradiated with neutron from a reactor,
converting K-40 to Ar-39. Measure ratio of Ar-39 to Ar-40.
Dating methods
• Molecular clock: – Starting the clock: speciation event – Ticking of the clock: mutation rate
Closest extant primate relatives
• Scandentia (tree shrews)
• Dermoptera (flying lemurs)
Proto-primates
• Purgatorius – Montana deposits dated to about
65 MYA – Mouse-sized
• Plesiadapiformes – Squirrel-like
Two main primate branches • Prosimians (Lemurs, etc.)
– More ‘primitive’ – Lemurs – Dwarf & mouse lemurs – Lorises – Galagos – Aye-ayes
• Anthropoids (Monkeys and apes) – More derived – New World monkeys – Old World monkeys & apes
Nit-picky details • Tarsiers cause all the problems
• Strepsirrhines (basically prosimians) – Wet-nosed
• Haplorrhines (basically tarsiers, monkeys, and apes) – Dry-nosed
Comparative analysis
• Close relatives (based on the tree) • Similar ecological niche
An example
An example
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