Location of early prosimians
fossils from Paleocene in the NW
Western United States and Europe
Location of current prosimians
- Africa
- Asia
- Madagascar
Prosimians on Madagascar - characteristics
- don’t have to compete with monkeys
- got there 50 million yrs ago
- adaptive radiation - filled all the niches and habitats in the country
3 superfamilies of prosimians
1) Lorisoidea (lrois, potto and galago)
2) Lemuroidia (lemurs, indri, sifaka, aye-aye)
3) Tarsiodea (tarsiers)
Classifying the tarsier
Prosimian-like qualities: nocturnal, solitary/pair living, grooming claw, multiple nipples, bicornuate uterus
Monkey-like qualities: diurnal ancestors, no tapetum, no rhinarium, single offspring, hemochorial placenta
Basic prosimian characteristics
- size
- socialness
- night or day active
- number of teeth
- breeding habits
- placenta
- movement
- eye characteristics
-smaller than anthropoids
-less social
-nocturnal mostly; diurnal ones in Madagascar
-36 teeth
-dental comb to eat sap
-seasonal breeders
-epithelialchroial placenta (except tarsier)
-tapetum (in nocturnal species)
-vertical clinging and leaping
-
Galago
- location
- night active or day active
- social habits
- eat?
- birthing
- special characteristic
- Africa
- live in forests with monkeys
- night active
- solitary
- bug eaters
- 2 babies at a time
- baby parking (humans have reverted back to this)
Lemurs
Mouse lemur true lemur ring-tailed lemur indri/sifaka aye-aye
mouse lemur
-social behavior
- Smallest primate of them all
- males are territorial - assertive and take over part of forest so other males can’t mate with females
- more social than other lemurs
- males hit puberty, they get kicked out find a way back
aye-aye
have a different dental make-up (1-0-0-3) to bit through bark and coconuts
tarsier
- sumatra, borneo and phillippines
- big eyes - try to see at night with tapetum
- carnivorous
- can spin head 180 degrees
- long leg bones for jumping
Sportive lemur
omnivorous
coprophagia - eating poop (primates that became vegetarians had to find a way to ferment leaves)
Effect of body size in Madagascar lemurs
small lemurs: nocturnal, solitary, eat bugs/sap/fruit/flowers, males dominate, nests and baby parking
larger lemurs: diurnal, small groups, fruit/sap/leaves, females dominate, ventral carrying
**Why? natural selection - need to be bigger than predator
