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The oldest Asian record of Anthropoidea.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Bajpai, S; Kay, RF; Williams, BA; Das, DP; Kapur, VV; Tiwari, BN
Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
August 2008

Undisputed anthropoids appear in the fossil record of Africa and Asia by the middle Eocene, about 45 Ma. Here, we report the discovery of an early Eocene eosimiid anthropoid primate from India, named Anthrasimias, that extends the Asian fossil record of anthropoids by 9-10 million years. A phylogenetic analysis of 75 taxa and 343 characters of the skull, postcranium, and dentition of Anthrasimias and living and fossil primates indicates the basal placement of Anthrasimias among eosimiids, confirms the anthropoid status of Eosimiidae, and suggests that crown haplorhines (tarsiers and monkeys) are the sister clade of Omomyoidea of the Eocene, not nested within an omomyoid clade. Co-occurence of Anthropoidea, Omomyoidea, and Adapoidea makes it evident that peninsular India was an important center for the diversification of primates of modern aspect (euprimates) in the early Eocene. Adaptive reconstructions indicate that early anthropoids were mouse-lemur-sized ( approximately 75 grams) and consumed a mixed diet of fruit and insects. Eosimiids bear little adaptive resemblance to later Eocene-early Oligocene African Anthropoidea.

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Published In

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI

EISSN

1091-6490

ISSN

0027-8424

Publication Date

August 2008

Volume

105

Issue

32

Start / End Page

11093 / 11098

Related Subject Headings

  • Skull
  • Primates
  • Phylogeny
  • Fossils
  • Dentition
  • Asia
  • Animals
 

Citation

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MLA
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Bajpai, S., Kay, R. F., Williams, B. A., Das, D. P., Kapur, V. V., & Tiwari, B. N. (2008). The oldest Asian record of Anthropoidea. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105(32), 11093–11098. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0804159105
Bajpai, Sunil, Richard F. Kay, Blythe A. Williams, Debasis P. Das, Vivesh V. Kapur, and B. N. Tiwari. “The oldest Asian record of Anthropoidea.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 105, no. 32 (August 2008): 11093–98. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0804159105.
Bajpai S, Kay RF, Williams BA, Das DP, Kapur VV, Tiwari BN. The oldest Asian record of Anthropoidea. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2008 Aug;105(32):11093–8.
Bajpai, Sunil, et al. “The oldest Asian record of Anthropoidea.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 105, no. 32, Aug. 2008, pp. 11093–98. Epmc, doi:10.1073/pnas.0804159105.
Bajpai S, Kay RF, Williams BA, Das DP, Kapur VV, Tiwari BN. The oldest Asian record of Anthropoidea. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2008 Aug;105(32):11093–11098.
Journal cover image

Published In

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI

EISSN

1091-6490

ISSN

0027-8424

Publication Date

August 2008

Volume

105

Issue

32

Start / End Page

11093 / 11098

Related Subject Headings

  • Skull
  • Primates
  • Phylogeny
  • Fossils
  • Dentition
  • Asia
  • Animals