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Anthropoid origins.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Kay, RF; Ross, C; Williams, BA
Published in: Science (New York, N.Y.)
February 1997

Recent fossil discoveries have greatly increased our knowledge of the morphology and diversity of early Anthropoidea, the suborder to which humans belong. Phylogenetic analysis of Recent and fossil taxa supports the hypotheses that a haplorhine-strepsirrhine dichotomy existed at least at the time of the earliest record of fossil primates (earliest Eocene) and that eosimiids (middle Eocene, China) are primitive anthropoids. Functional analysis suggests that stem haplorhines were small, nocturnal, arboreal, visually oriented insectivore-frugivores with a scurrying-leaping locomotion. A change from nocturnality to diurnality was the fundamental adaptive shift that occurred at the base of the tarsier-eosimiid-anthropoid clade. Stem anthropoids remained small diurnal arborealists but adopted locomotor patterns with more arboreal quadrupedalism and less leaping. A shift to a more herbivorous diet occurred in several anthropoid lineages.

Duke Scholars

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Published In

Science (New York, N.Y.)

DOI

EISSN

1095-9203

ISSN

0036-8075

Publication Date

February 1997

Volume

275

Issue

5301

Start / End Page

797 / 804

Related Subject Headings

  • Phylogeny
  • Orbit
  • Locomotion
  • Haplorhini
  • General Science & Technology
  • Fossils
  • Diet
  • Circadian Rhythm
  • Body Constitution
  • Biological Evolution
 

Citation

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Kay, R. F., Ross, C., & Williams, B. A. (1997). Anthropoid origins. Science (New York, N.Y.), 275(5301), 797–804. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.275.5301.797
Kay, R. F., C. Ross, and B. A. Williams. “Anthropoid origins.Science (New York, N.Y.) 275, no. 5301 (February 1997): 797–804. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.275.5301.797.
Kay RF, Ross C, Williams BA. Anthropoid origins. Science (New York, NY). 1997 Feb;275(5301):797–804.
Kay, R. F., et al. “Anthropoid origins.Science (New York, N.Y.), vol. 275, no. 5301, Feb. 1997, pp. 797–804. Epmc, doi:10.1126/science.275.5301.797.
Kay RF, Ross C, Williams BA. Anthropoid origins. Science (New York, NY). 1997 Feb;275(5301):797–804.
Journal cover image

Published In

Science (New York, N.Y.)

DOI

EISSN

1095-9203

ISSN

0036-8075

Publication Date

February 1997

Volume

275

Issue

5301

Start / End Page

797 / 804

Related Subject Headings

  • Phylogeny
  • Orbit
  • Locomotion
  • Haplorhini
  • General Science & Technology
  • Fossils
  • Diet
  • Circadian Rhythm
  • Body Constitution
  • Biological Evolution