Deck 9: From Tree Shrew to Ape

Question 1

During the last 65 million years, which of the following occurred?

A) The climate first warmed, then cooled, and most recently became variable.
B) The climate underwent a constant cooling trend, with decreasing variability.
C) The climate underwent a constant warming trend, with some recent variability.
D) The average climate did not change but the variability went down.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following statements concerning climate change is correct?

A) Because Pangaea was so large, it probably had cold winter weather, like Asia does today.
B) Because Pangaea was so large, it facilitated the circulation of water from the tropics to the poles.
C) Cold areas of the world today, such as Alaska, were always cold.
D) Europe was never tropical.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Radiometric dating is possible because

A) isotopes decay at a known rate.
B) older layers are deeper than younger layers.
C) when rocks are formed, chemical signatures determine how long they will last.
D) when rocks are formed, their chemical configuration never changes.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Gondwanaland was a landmass that consisted of

A) all present-day continents.
B) all present-day continents except for Asia.
C) India and North America.
D) most of the continents in the Southern Hemisphere.

Question 5

Carbon-14 dating can be used to date

A) old volcanic rocks.
B) old sedimentary rocks.
C) young organic material.
D) young apatite crystals.

Question 6

Fossils are formed when

A) rocks are heated by volcanic activity and then cooled rapidly.
B) rocks are heated by volcanic activity and then cooled slowly.
C) bone is mineralized by interaction with surrounding rock.
D) animals die slowly through starvation.

Question 7

Radiometric techniques provide researchers with the ability to

A) search for extraterrestrials.
B) extract DNA from inside fossils.
C) determine the morphology of a fossil.
D) determine the age of a sample.

Question 8

________ dating determines an accurate age of single rock crystals.

A) Carbon-14
B) Thermoluminescence
C) Electron-spin-resonance
D) Argon-argon

Question 9

Why is continental drift important to our understanding of primate evolution?

A) It can facilitate speciation.
B) It can cause random changes in gene frequencies.
C) It produces adaptations.
D) It increases mutations.

Question 10

What is Pangaea?

A) a single landmass that contained all present-day continents
B) the view that all mammals evolved in Gaea
C) the specific geographic location where all life originated
D) evidence of an ancient underwater biome

Question 11

Laurasia was a landmass that consisted of

A) all present-day continents.
B) all present-day continents except for Asia.
C) all of the continents that no longer exist.
D) North America, Europe, and Asia.

Question 12

Continental drift is the

A) change in position of the continents in relation to each other and the poles.
B) presence of genetic drift in a continental population.
C) presence of a founder effect within a single continent.
D) cooling of a single continent due to a drift in climatic conditions.

Question 13

Around 225 Ma, which of the following statements was true of the contemporary continents that we know today?

A) They had not been formed into land yet.
B) They were underneath the ocean.
C) They were joined into a single continent.
D) They were joined into two continents.

Question 14

During the Permian and Triassic eras, much of the world's fauna was dominated by

A) trilobites.
B) amphibians.
C) therapsids.
D) mammals.

Question 15

Carbon-14 is described as an unstable isotope because it

A) decays into a different isotope over time.
B) changes to carbon-12 faster than carbon-12 changes to carbon-14.
C) is more susceptible to radiation than is carbon-12.
D) never changes and is not a good isotope for radiometric dating.

Question 16

Potassium-argon dating is best used to date

A) recent archaeological sites.
B) young rocks.
C) young fossils.
D) old fossils or rocks.

Question 17

The first mammals evolved from

A) dinosaurs.
B) birds.
C) therapsids.
D) reptiles.

Question 18

In general, larger continents have

A) less extreme temperatures than smaller continents.
B) the same weather as smaller continents.
C) more extreme temperatures than smaller continents.
D) the same weather as smaller continents, as climate is determined by other factors.

Question 19

The first mammals were

A) large and diurnal.
B) small and nocturnal.
C) large and nocturnal.
D) small and crepuscular.

Question 20

Which of the following important geological events occurred approximately 135 Ma?

A) Laurasia divided into Pangaea and Gondwanaland.
B) Gondwanaland divided into North America and Europe.
C) Pangaea divided into Laurasia and Gondwanaland.
D) India moved north to join Europe.

Question 21

The Eocene primates had most of the features that modern primates share, including

A) grasping hands and feet.
B) claws.
C) small brains.
D) long snouts.

Question 22

Which of the following statements correctly characterizes the Fayum Depression during the Oligocene?

A) Its community included strepsirrhines, omomyids, and haplorrhines.
B) It was a desert.
C) It did not have any animals other than primates.
D) It is where the oldest primate fossils on record came from.

Question 23

Which of the following Oligocene haplorrhines had the most primitive traits?

A) the propliopithecids
B) the parapithecids
C) the oligopithecids
D) the omomyids

Question 24

Which of the following is true of the earliest primates?

A) They were large-brained, diurnal monkeys found in Africa.
B) They had nails on their fingers like modern humans.
C) They had fully enclosed eye sockets like modern humans.
D) They were small, nocturnal, and found in North America and Europe.

Question 25

________ is based on an effect of high-energy nuclear particles traveling through rock.

A) Radioactive decay
B) Electron-spin-resonance
C) Thermoluminescence
D) Carbon-14

Question 26

The Adapidae were a group of early primates that

A) had smaller eye sockets than the Omomyidae.
B) were nocturnal.
C) were smaller than the Omomyidae.
D) had longer tarsal calcaneus bones than the Omomyidae.

Question 27

Modern ________ were most likely derived from the propliopithecids.

A) lemurs
B) Old World monkeys
C) tarsiers
D) New World monkeys

Question 28

The Omomyidae were a group of early primates that

A) were similar to modern tarsiers.
B) specialized in fruit.
C) had small eye sockets.
D) had large bodies.

Question 29

Which of the following is true of the plesiadapiforms?

A) They were alive during the Oligocene.
B) They lived in forested habitats.
C) They were the earliest mammals.
D) They had teeth that were adapted to eat only fruits.

Question 30

Plesiadapiforms had several primitive features, including

A) nails instead of claws.
B) eyes that were placed on the sides of their heads.
C) the presence of a postorbital bar.
D) habitual terrestrial behavior.

Question 31

________ are important in electron-spin-resonance dating.

A) Apatite crystals
B) Volcanic rocks
C) Unstable carbon isotopes
D) High-energy nuclear particles

Question 32

Which of the following statements is true of the fossil haplorrhines and the propliopithecids?

A) They were nocturnal.
B) They had claws.
C) They had a 2.1.2.3 dental formula.
D) They had a 2.2.4.4 dental formula.

Question 33

Radiometric dating can be problematic when applied to recent samples because

A) it cannot be used in conjunction with other dating techniques.
B) the earth's magnetic field changes periodically.
C) these methods have relatively large margins for error.
D) many fossils of interest were present only during a limited period of time.

Question 34

The discovery of Carpolestes simpsoni supports the idea that

A) the earliest primates were insect predators.
B) primate characteristics coevolved to facilitate leaping.
C) orbital convergence evolved after grasping hands and feet.
D) the earliest primates foraged on plant resources and insects at night.

Question 35

Early primates likely evolved to exploit new niches provided by

A) arboreality.
B) flowering plants.
C) the breakup of Pangaea.
D) insectivory.

Question 36

Compared with the Eocene, the Oligocene was characterized by

A) the rise of a land bridge connecting North and South America.
B) colder, more variable global temperatures.
C) a change in the Northern Hemisphere from deciduous to tropical forests.
D) warmer, more consistent temperatures.

Question 37

Which of the following derived characteristics did the earliest oligopithecid primates share with modern haplorrhines?

A) Their eye sockets were fully enclosed by bone.
B) They had a 2.1.3.3 dental formula.
C) They were nocturnal.
D) They had prehensile tails.

Question 38

Imagine a fossil specimen with huge eye sockets. This animal was most likely

A) a predator.
B) a prey animal.
C) nocturnal.
D) diurnal.

Question 39

During which era did the first primates with modern features evolve?

A) Paleocene
B) Eocene
C) Oligocene
D) Miocene

Question 40

The first primates that were similar to modern monkeys appeared

A) at Fayum in Egypt.
B) during the Paleocene.
C) about 5 million years ago.
D) at the same time as the dinosaurs.

Question 41

Which of the following is true of electron-spin-resonance dating?

A) It cannot be used on teeth.
B) It uses a magnetic field to count the number of trapped electrons in apatite crystals.
C) It measures the breakdown of molecules in teeth to estimate their age.
D) It is used to date zirconium crystals and has been used in South Africa where potassium-argon methods can't be applied.

Question 42

Modern orangutans most likely evolved from

A) Kenyapithecus.
B) Dryopithecus.
C) Ouranopithecus.
D) Sivapithecus.

Question 43

Which of the following is true of the concentration of ¹⁸O in seawater?

A) It is low during glacial periods.
B) It is high during glacial periods.
C) It decreases over time as ¹⁸O decays into ¹⁶O.
D) It increases over time as ¹⁸O accumulates from cosmic sources.

Question 44

Apes from the Middle Miocene adapted to have ________ because they ate harder foods than their predecessors.

A) molars with thick enamel and rounded cusps
B) narrow zygomatic arches
C) robust upper jaws
D) molars with thin enamel and sharp cusps

Question 45

________ is a derived feature that Proconsul shares with living apes and humans.

A) The absence of a tail
B) The presence of short upper limbs
C) The presence of a narrow chest
D) Thin tooth enamel

Question 46

Robert Martin simulated the evolution of primates in relation to our ability to find ancient species and estimated that the current sample of fossil primates represents ________% of those that ever lived.

A) 3
B) 36
C) 63
D) 93

Question 47

Many paleontologists focus on teeth for several reasons, including that

A) teeth are not remodeled during life, so they carry a record of the animal's entire life history.
B) although teeth are the least likely body part to survive, they can be dated using the argon-argon method.
C) teeth are continuously remodeled throughout life, so they show the response an animal had to the environment in which it lived.
D) although the shape of teeth tells us little about diet, the wear on them indicates what the animal ate.

Question 48

________ provides the first evidence for suspensory locomotion among the fossil hominoids.

A) Morotopithecus
B) Dryopithecus
C) Chororapithecus
D) Proconsul

Question 49

Although Pierolapithecus shared some derived morphological characteristics with modern great apes, it lacked

A) flexible wrists.
B) a stiff and short lumbar spine.
C) highly curved fingers.
D) a wide, shallow rib cage.

Question 50

The first hominoid, known as Proconsul, appeared

A) after Kenyapithecus.
B) during the Miocene.
C) in a woodland environment.
D) in Africa.

Question 51

Which of the following characteristics did the first hominoids share with modern apes?

A) limbs of equal length
B) a narrow thorax
C) larger brains than monkeys
D) tooth adaptations for insectivory and frugivory

Question 52

Compare and contrast the three families of Fayum haplorrhines (oligopithecids, parapithecids, and propliopithecids). What characteristics did they share with living groups of primates?

Question 53

The ratio of ¹⁶O to ¹⁸O in seawater over time estimated from deep-sea sediment cores indicates

A) an overall warming trend from about 50 million years ago.
B) an overall cooling trend from about 50 million years ago.
C) cycles of cooling and warming around an average of about 5 degrees C.
D) a remarkably steady global temperature, suggesting that continental drift, not climate change, causes most ecological changes.

Question 54

Why is it important to consider continental drift when studying primate evolution?

Question 55

Which of the following statements is true of the fossil New World primates?

A) They were small bodied.
B) They first evolved during the Eocene.
C) They were terrestrial.
D) They had three premolars.

Question 56

Give an example of absolute dating and an example of relative dating. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the two methods and how might they be used together to understand the dating or chronology of a site or set of sites?

Question 57

Where and in what kind of environment did the earliest primates evolve?

Question 58

Discuss the different hypotheses that the chapter presents for how the first primates adapted to share the same suite of diagnostic characteristics.

Question 59

________ are characterized by small incisors and large premolars with sharp crests.

A) Frugivores
B) Folivores
C) Insectivores
D) Faunivores

Question 60

The hominoid radiation occurred during the

A) Eocene.
B) Oligocene.
C) Miocene.
D) Pliocene.

Question 61

Why did the radiation of hominoids come to an end?

Question 62

You are an expert paleontologist reviewing the work of Professor Bonefinder, who recently discovered the remains of a primate fossil from South America. The fossil has a long snout, a tail, and large orbits that face toward the side and are only partially enclosed. The fossil has been securely dated to about 30 Ma. Bonefinder concluded that this fossil is a hominoid. Do you think Professor Bonefinder's analysis is correct? Explain your evaluation.

Question 63

What is the current thinking on how the ancestors of the modern New World monkeys got to South America from the Old World?