Abstract
Paleontologists are interested in the “morphological origin” of anthropoids since virtually all other types of biological information are lost to us. We seek to document the series of anatomical transformations that begin with stem prosimians and end with extant higher primates. Thus, we peer into the fossil record and hope to identify transitional forms that have both prosimian and anthropoid characteristics. Primatologists have identified many postcranial features that distinguish prosimian from anthropoid primates (Table 1; e.g., Ciochon and Chiarelli, 1980; Dagosto, 1990; Fleagle, 1999; Fleagle and Kay, 1994; Kay et al., 1997; LeGros Clark, 1959). If only extant primates are considered, there is a large morphological gap between prosimian and anthropoid morphologies (Table 1). This situation begs two questions: (1) Where are the transitional forms that document the origin of anthropoids? (2) What types of primates will be considered “early,” “stem” or “basal” anthropoids? The first question is rather difficult since we need to actually find the transitional specimens while the second is simply a matter of definition.
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Gebo, D.L., Dagosto, M. (2004). Anthropoid Origins: Postcranial Evidence from the Eocene of Asia. In: Ross, C.F., Kay, R.F. (eds) Anthropoid Origins. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8873-7_15
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