Anatomy of the Bony Pelvis in Parapithecid Primates

Fleagle, John G.; Simons, Elwyn L.

doi:10.1159/000155882

Cited by 31 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…20, 21; Table 8). Four of these were discussed in an earlier study by Fleagle and Simons (1979). In that study, the larger specimens were attributed to Parapithecus grangeri and the smaller ones to Apidium phiomense solely because there was a size difference among the bones.…”

Section: Theoscoxaementioning

confidence: 90%

“…All lack the most proximal part of the bone. The morphology of the distal part of the ilium was described by Fleagle and Simons (1979). The most striking features of this bone are the broad gluteal plane, the expanded iliac plane, and the short lower iliac length.…”

Section: The Iliummentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ilium of Apidium is also unusual among primates in the short distance be- tween the acetabulum and the auricular surface that articulates with the sacrum (Fleagle and Simons, 1979;Leutenegger, 1970). Like the shape of the gluteal plane, this feature allies Apidiurn with callitrichines.…”

Section: Distal Edidhvsismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of the fossil ossa coxae preserve the acetabulum and surrounding bone intact. In the acetabular region of Apidium phiomense, the dorsal rim is relatively thicker than the ventral rim, a feature that distinguishes most anthropoids from most prosimians and also distinguishes quadrupedal, leaping, and bipedal anthropoids from more suspensory species (Schultz, 1969;Fleagle and Simons, 1979). The thick dorsal rim probably reflects greater dorsally directed compressive forces during quadrupedalism and leaping.…”

Section: The Acetabulummentioning

confidence: 99%

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Limb skeleton and locomotor adaptations of apidium phiomense, an Oligocene anthropoid from Egypt

Fleagle

Simons

1995

American J Phys Anthropol

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Apidium phiomense is the most common primate from the early Oligocene deposits of Fayum, Egypt. It is known from hundreds of dental remains and dozens of skeletal remains, including numerous representatives of the long bones of the forelimb and hindlimb. Apidium phiomense was a small (1,600 g) arboreal quadruped. The forelimb bones of this species show features characteristic of arboreal quadrupeds and lack characteristic features found in the forelimb bones of vertial clingers, terrestrial quadrupeds, or suspensory species. The pelvis and hindlimb bones show numerous adaptations for leaping from a quadrupedal position. In general, Apidium lacks characteristic features of either cercopithecoid monkeys or hominoid apes. Overall, the skeleton shows greatest similarities to the same elements of small platyrrhines such as Saimiri and is also very similar to the hypothetical morphotype for ancestral platyrrhine. The skeleton of Apidium phiomense is the most primitive anthropoid postcranial skeleton known.

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Section: Theoscoxaementioning

confidence: 90%

Section: The Iliummentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Distal Edidhvsismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Acetabulummentioning

confidence: 99%

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Limb skeleton and locomotor adaptations of apidium phiomense, an Oligocene anthropoid from Egypt

Fleagle

Simons

1995

American J Phys Anthropol

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“…The more abundant hindlimb elements of Apidium phiomense all indicate an arboreal, quadrupedal leaping adaptation (Fleagle, 1980;Fleagle & Simons, 1979;Conroy, 1976). Kortlandt (1980) has suggested that the repeatedly observed morphological similarities between Aegyptopithecus zeuxis and Alouatta might just reflect phyletic ally primitive features retained by Alouatta rather than habitus-related adaptations.…”

Section: Plant Fossils (S L Wing and B H Tiffney)mentioning

confidence: 99%

The fayum primate forest revisited

Bown¹,

Kraus²,

Wing³

et al. 1982

Journal of Human Evolution

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174

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The Faywn Prim.ate Forest RevisitedIn Oligocene times, the Fayum area of northern Egypt was a subtropical to tropical lowland coastal plain with damp soils and seasonal rainfall that supported an abundance and variety of vegetation, including lianes (large vines), tall trees, and possibly mangroves, and a large and varied vertebrate fauna. The Oligocene marine strandline was close by and principal Jebel Qatrani Formation streams were probably brackish several kilometers inland due to tidal incursions.Sediments of the Jebel Qatrani Formation were deposited by several large meandering streams, associated with minor but sometimes extensive flood basin ponds. These rocks provide no evidence for the former existence, in early Tertiary time, of a "Proto-Nile" River. Large accumulations of silicified fossil logs in the Jebel Qatrani Formation are autochthonous and the logs were transported only a short distance before burial. The Oligocene higher primates A·~g;Ptopithecus, Propliopithecus, Parapithecus, and Apidium lived in this paleoenvironment and postcranial remains of Aeg;ptopithecus and Apidium demonstrate that these animals were arboreal. This scenario for the paleoenvironment of the Fayum area in Oligocene times differs greatly from the nearly treeless, sparsely vegetated, semiarid sahtlien Oligocene Fayum paleoenvironment populated by terrestrial primates that ,vas recently proposed by Kortlandt (1980).

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Egyptian oligocene primates: A review

Simons

1995

Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.

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The study of the early anthropoids or anthropoideans from the Oligocene badlands of the Fayum Province, Egypt, covers the greater part of this century. This review discusses the successive stages of our knowledge of these animals, which have become the oldest well understood kinds of higher primates or anthropoideans. The study of the first finds, made early in the century, is reviewed and the various interpretations of these scanty remains are discussed. All initial discussions were based on only four specimens. Essentially all of the early rankings made by authors who, in many cases, had not seen the actual specimens were incorrect. Nevertheless it was realized that these Fayum primates were somehow the earliest relatives of apes and monkeys then known. Prominent scholars questioned whether one of these, Apidium, was even a primate. At the end of the 1950s two specimens, found at the beginning of the century, were located a t the American Museum of Natural History. Their description kindled new interest in the Fayum primates and established that they showed cranial characters of higher primates. Beginning in 1961 a sequence of four periods of development in the study of these important ancient primates began. The first was a series of eight expeditions from Yale University conducted from 1961 to 1968. These cooperative projects conducted with the Geological Survey and Mining Authority of Egypt (EGSMA) increased the number of primate specimens from six or eight to over 500. These discoveries led to the description of new species as well as reports on the first limb elements and cranial remains. After this phase came a period when the desert Fayum was closed to exploration and publications were concerned mainly with continued description of the new finds. The third major period of research that is outlined here, between 1977 and 1989, came with renewed field work in Egypt now carried out cooperatively between Duke University and EGSMA. The research on Fayum primates in this period was greatly expanded, as is explained in this paper, because: 1) new techniques enabled the recovery of extensive collections of postcranial elements as well as skulls and facial crania, which made possible revisions of both anatomy of the propliopithecids and parapithecids; 2) an international interdisciplinary team published extensively on the background context for the primates including studies on environment, dating, and geological setting; and 3) prosimians in addition to the basal Anthropoidea were found. Since 1990 research on Fayum primates has been expanded even more to include a larger number of researchers, many trained through field work a t 0 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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Anatomy of the Bony Pelvis in Parapithecid Primates

Cited by 31 publications

References 7 publications

Limb skeleton and locomotor adaptations of apidium phiomense, an Oligocene anthropoid from Egypt

Limb skeleton and locomotor adaptations of apidium phiomense, an Oligocene anthropoid from Egypt

The fayum primate forest revisited

Egyptian oligocene primates: A review

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