Deck 7: Primate Evolution: From Early Primates to Hominoids

Question 1

The knowledge gained from anatomical studies of living species

A) is all that is needed to reconstruct primate evolution.
B) is useless.
C) allows us to estimate the age of primate fossils.
D) can allow important inferences to be made about behavioral and physical traits likely to be associated with primate fossil features.

Answer 1

can allow important inferences to be made about behavioral and physical traits likely to be associated with primate fossil features.

Question 2

The Arboreal Theory of Primate Evolution was put forward in 1912 by

A) Charles Darwin.
B) Frederick Wood Jones.
C) G. Elliot Smith.
D) Russell Wallace.

Answer 2

G. Elliot Smith.

Question 3

______________ highlighted some weaknesses in the arboreal theory.

A) Frederick Wood Jones
B) Matt Cartmill
C) Charles Darwin
D) G. Elliot Smith

Answer 3

Matt Cartmill

Question 4

During the Oligocene epoch, 34 to 24 million years ago, the Fayum area of Egypt was

A) desert.
B) swamp.
C) tropical rain forest.
D) frozen tundra.

Question 5

The reconstruction of primate evolution

A) is very complete.
B) is based on totally complete fossil remains.
C) requires the finding of fossil remains.
D) depends on proven theories.

Question 6

About _______ percent of all animal and plant life that lived in the last part of the Cenozoic, the late Cretaceous, vanished by the early Paleocene.

A) 95
B) 85
C) 75
D) 65

Question 7

Primates with monkey and apelike features appeared in the _______epoch, about 34 million years ago.

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

Question 8

The best known genus of proto-ape from the early Miocene is

A) Kenyapithecus.
B) Proconsul.
C) Sivapithecus.
D) Gigantopithecus.

Question 9

Oreopithecus is a well-known ape from

A) Europe.
B) Asia.
C) Africa.
D) North America.

Question 10

We know that by the early ______ epoch, primates resembling prosimians had already emerged.

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

Question 11

One important reason for climate change in the late Cretaceous period was

A) the sun cooled off.
B) a dust bowl.
C) continental merger.
D) continental drift.

Question 12

Which of the following is NOT a feature of modern primates?

A) nails instead of claws
B) a grasping, opposable first toe
C) a bony bar around the eye socket
D) verbal speech

Question 13

Some paleoanthropologists think that _________ from the Paleocene epoch are archaic primates.

A) plesiadapiforms
B) adapids
C) omomyids
D) carpolestes

Question 14

The primate fossil record

A) has no diversity.
B) is full of diversity.
C) is monotonous.
D) presents a clear record of evolution to hominids.

Question 15

Which is closely associated with the evolution of hominids?

A) drier climate
B) more open grassland environments
C) tropical rainforests
D) All of the above are closely associated with the evolution of hominids.

Question 16

Large trees with large fruits and seeds became common during the _________ epochs.

A) late Cretaceous and early Miocene
B) late Oligocene and early Pleistocene
C) late Pliocene and early Pleistocene
D) late Paleocene and early Eocene

Question 17

Sivapithecus is probably the ancestor of modern

A) gorillas.
B) chimpanzees.
C) humans.
D) orangutans.

Question 18

The Eocene epoch began about _______million years ago.

A) 105
B) 55
C) 70
D) 1.6

Question 19

The earliest definite primates appeared in the

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

Question 20

Which of the following is NOT an early Eocene primate group?

A) Omomyids
B) Adapids
C) Anthropoids
D) They are all early Eocene primate groups.

Question 21

Primate paleontologists think that primates probably evolved from the ________ order of mammals.

A) insectivore
B) rodent
C) bovine
D) angiosperm

Question 22

The exploitation of resources in a(n) ______ habitat was probably the key adaptation in the emergence of the primates.

A) swampy
B) frozen
C) woody
D) open treeless

Question 23

When did primates first emerge?

Question 24

The fossil record documenting the emergence of anthropoids is spotty because

A) the research only began five years ago, so it is a young field in anthropology.
B) no one really knows anything about anthropoids.
C) we have just not been able to fill in all the gaps between fossil finds.
D) paleoanthropologists are known to not share their finds with others.

Question 25

Discuss early Eocene primates.

Question 26

Paleontologists believe primates evolved from insectivores because

A) new kinds of plant life opened up sources for food and protection for new animal forms.
B) new plant life provided an abundant food supply for insects.
C) insects proliferated, increasing the number of insectivores.
D) all of the above.

Question 27

There are numerous theories trying to explain primate origins, all of which have strong and weak points. Why is it difficult to have a set unified theory?

A) we have very little fossil evidence of the earliest primates
B) it is another example of how anthropologists cannot agree on anything
C) the fossil evidence is all too clear and proves a divergence of opinion
D) primates have always been too difficult to study

Question 28

The spread of __________ aided the rise of primates.

A) worms
B) birds
C) bees
D) insects

Question 29

There are many branches to the lineage between early primates and living primates, but this concept relies on one factor,

A) a common ancestor who as yet is unknown.
B) all direct lineages between past and present.
C) no extinctions of any lineages.
D) no one common ancestor, but a large number of them.

Question 30

What role did the environment play in primate evolution?

Question 31

Despite having a fossil record, paleoanthropologists disagree about a great deal. Why?

A) it depends of the kind of training they received
B) they like to argue about everything
C) the fossils that remain are often incomplete and subject to interpretation
D) it turns out there is actually no arguments between them

Question 32

The "molecular clock" is an interesting way of measuring species divergence because

A) a reliable "molecular clock" would speed up over time.
B) a reliable "molecular clock" would slow down over time.
C) it assumes that the more similar the blood proteins of related species, the more recently they diverged.
D) it measure time which did not exist millions of years ago.

Question 33

The originator of the visual predation theory is

A) Charles Darwin.
B) Matt Cartmill.
C) G. Elliot Smith.
D) J. Allman.

Question 34

The supercontinent Pangea split into Laurasia and Gondwanaland about ______ million years ago.

A) 155
B) 145
C) 135
D) 125

Question 35

What does the evolution of primates tell us about human evolution?

Question 36

Without fossil remains, the reconstruction of primate evolution cannot happen. Why?

A) fossils provide direct evidence of past connections
B) the location of fossils can tell us very little
C) the size of the fossil provide very little information
D) actually, fossils make reconstruction more confusing

Question 37

Has the fossil evidence told us where and when hominids first emerged?

A) yes, from Europe about 10 million years ago
B) yes, from Africa about 6-7 million years ago
C) it tells us where, but not when
D) it tells us when, but not where

Question 38

Why is continental drift an important event for explaining the different climates of the past?

A) the continents had little effect on climate because they changed the ocean's currents
B) as the continents changed position, they affected climate
C) the continents had little affect because they changed wind patterns
D) none of the above

Question 39

Why are applied anthropologists developing an interest in biodiversity?

A) the maintenance of genetic variation in plant and animal species provides for innovations in agriculture
B) it provides sources of new resources or technologies in things like building materials and medicine
C) it is a measure of environmental health and stability
D) all of the above

Question 40

What are the major questions concerning primate evolution and why are they important?

Question 41

What happened to Gigantopithecus and why is it important?

Question 42

Compare the Miocene anthropoids.

Question 43

What do we know about the divergence of hominids from the other hominoids? How do we know it? Why is it important?

Question 44

What conditions led to the emergence of anthropoids?

Question 45

Why do anthropologists use modern primates in their study of older forms of primates?