Primate Diversity Research Articles

Foot morphology and locomotor adaptation in Eocene primates.

Locomotor diversity of Eocene primates of North America and Europe was well developed, with species of both Adapidae and Omomyidae showing a wide spectrum of movements. Besides documenting the locomotor diversity in the Eocene, this paper shows that adapid foot morphology shares derived features with extant strepsirhines. Thus, the Omomyidae best resemble the ancestral euprimate in terms of foot morphology and locomotion. The generalized locomotor repertoire of the modern cheirogaleids represents the best model for the movement pattern of the ancestral euprimate.

A new species of Propliopithecus from the Fayum, Egypt.

Propliopithecus ankeli is described as a new species of hominoid from the early Oligocene of Egypt. The new species occurs at a stratigraphic level 80 m below quarries yielding P. chirobates and Aegyptopithecus zeuxis. P. ankeli differs from other species of the genus in its large size, relatively robust canines, larger and proportionally broader premolars, and M1 that has as great or greater mesiodistal length than M2. Thus, P. ankeli is characterized by increased relative size and robustness of the antemolar dentition, which contrasts with the pattern observed in the Fayum's other large hominoid, A. zeuxis. P. ankeli probably represents a lineage not ancestral to other Fayum hominoids. Discovery of this new species emphasizes the diversity of anthropoid primates that had already evolved by the early Oligocene.