Convergent evolution of anthropoid-like adaptations in Eocene adapiform primates

Erik R. Seiffert (), Jonathan M. G. Perry, Elwyn L. Simons and Doug M. Boyer
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Erik R. Seiffert: Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-8081, USA
Jonathan M. G. Perry: Midwestern University, Downers Grove, Illinois 60515, USA
Elwyn L. Simons: Duke Lemur Center, 1013 Broad Street, Durham, North Carolina 27705, USA
Doug M. Boyer: Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-5245, USA

Nature, 2009, vol. 461, issue 7267, 1118-1121

Abstract: Aping the anthropoids The recent description of the primitive Eocene primate Darwinius — or 'Ida' — caused a stir, because of claims that it was a 'missing link', close to the ancestry of anthropoids (higher primates) including humans. Palaeontologists were concerned because few consider the extinct group to which Darwinius belongs, the adapoids, to be close to the anthropoids. Erik Seiffert and colleagues now describe the jaw and teeth of Afradapis, a newly discovered 37-million-year-old adapoid from Egypt. This was a close relative of Darwinius. Although detailed phylogenetic analysis shows that the new form — like Darwinius — was only distantly related to anthropoids, it does have a few features that suggest convergent evolution. It is likely that Darwinius and Afradapis are members of a group that convergently evolved some anthropoid-like adaptations in the middle Eocene, but that were eventually replaced by true anthropoids in the late Eocene and early Oligocene.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08429

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