Anthropoid Origins: A Phylogenetic Analysis

Revised age estimates for the later Paleogene mammal faunas of Egypt and Oman

“…All specialists agree that the oldest definitive crown anthropoids occur in the Jebel Qatrani Formation, but there is ongoing debate surrounding whether oligopithecids or propliopithecids are the oldest known stem catarrhines (19,42). Regardless, it should be noted that both groups' first appearance is later than previously thought.…”

Anthropoid primates from the Oligocene of Pakistan (Bugti Hills): Data on early anthropoid evolution and biogeography

“…4), primarily based on morphological characters (see supporting information), consistently point toward the monophyly of a large clade, including Asian Eosimiidae, Amphipithecidae, AraboAfrican Oligopithecidae, Propliopithecidae, African Proteopithecidae, Parapithecidae, and South American platyrrhine primates. Assuming this clade to be the Anthropoidea clade (10), from the present evidence, eosimiids and amphipithecids (and by extension Phileosimias and Bugtipithecus, respectively) are stem anthropoids (17) and, as such, support the hypothesis that Asia was the ancestral homeland of the Anthropoidea clade (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)10). The discovery of Phileosimias and Bugtipithecus from the Oligocene of Pakistan demonstrates that eosimiids remained highly evolutionary conservative through time and that amphipithecids were very autapomorphic with respect to their coeval African relatives, which had evolved into advanced species with more or less modern anatomy (19,(36)(37)(38).…”

“…However, over the last decade, it has become increasingly clear that Asia (China, Thailand, and Myanmar) also played an important role in the origins and early diversification of that group (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10). Eocene amphipithecid and eosimiid primates now figure prominently in models of the early higher-primate radiation.…”

Frontal Fusion: Collapse of Another Anthropoid Synapomorphy

“…Among haplorhines, we call the late Eocene Rooneyia a protoanthropoid, holding that it is probably the sister taxon to Anthropoidea (Rosenberger, 2006). Because it is becoming progressively more clear that Omomyidae sensu Szalay (1976) is paraphyletic and now less productive as a taxonomic concept (e.g., Rosenberger, 1985;Dagosto et al, 1999;Kay et al, 2004; in press), we simply refer to the Eocene forms that were maintained under that rubric as Tarsiiformes, which taxon also includes modern Tarsius. For the strepsirhines, the Eocene forms are called Adapiformes and the moderns are referred to as Lemuriformes, broken down into Lemuroidea, Indrioidea, and Lorisoidea.…”