8.1: Fossil Primates

Introduction

This lab covers primate evolution from the Paleocene through the Miocene, with an emphasis on the Miocene apes.

• Station 1: The Paleocene (covers Plesiadapiforms)
• Station 2: The Eocene & first true primates (Omomyids and Adapids)
• Station 3: Oligocene (covers Aegyptopithecus)
• Station 4: Miocene & Proconsul
• Station 5: Miocene & Sivapithecus
• Station 6: Miocene & Gigantopithecus

Steps

• Before beginning this lab, the instructor should select skeletal materials, casts, or images of skeletal materials for students, and arrange them at various stations. All skeletal materials should be labeled with cards/small labels with terms that match the student worksheets (e.g. Primate, Strepsirrhine). At some stations a handout, website, or textbook passage will need to be provided to give students the information to answer the questions. Alternatively, virtual images can be linked to the student worksheet to create a virtual lab.
• Specific materials needed are:
  • Station 1: handout, website, or textbook passage containing information about the characteristics of Plesiadapiforms.
  • Station 2: handout, website, or textbook passage containing information about the characteristics omomyids and adapids shared with primates.
  • Station 3: (a) strepsirrhine (e.g. lemur) skull, (b) Old World monkey skull, (c) ape skull, (d) aegyptopithecus skull, and (e) images of these primates or primate skeletons to allow comparison between their forelimb and hindlimb length. Extant primate skulls should allow visibility of molar cusp patterns.
  • Station 4: (a) monkey skull, (b) ape skull, (c) human skull, and (d) proconsul skull. Extant primate skulls should allow visibility of molar cusp patterns.
  • Station 5: (a) African ape skull, (b) orangutan skull, and (c) Sivapithecus skull.
  • Station 6: (a) Gigantopithecus teeth and/or jaw, (b) Gorilla skull, and (c) human skull

• The instructor should choose to assign this lab as an individual or small group activity.
• An introduction to encourage students to think about the “big picture” events from each time period is helpful. Instructors should be sure students are familiar with the traits in the lab (e.g. dental arcade, Y5 or bilophodont molar cusp patterns) or are given resources to identify these traits at the various stations.
• The lab consists of six “stations.” Stations can be completed in any order, however there is a “Miocene” phylogeny that requires the completion of stations four through six first.
  • Station 1: Using the resources provided by the instructor, students compare plesiadapiforms and primates.
  • Station 2: Using images provided of omomyids and adapids, students complete the yes/no table on the Worksheet.
  • Station 3: Given the scenario described on the worksheet, and observation of Aegyptopithecus fossils or images, students complete the table.
  • Station 4-6: Students examine fossils from the Miocene (Proconsul, Sivapithecus, and Gigantopithecus) in order to complete the Worksheet questions.

Conclusion

• Instructors should have students report to the class on their answers for some/all of the stations. For example, each group could complete a small table for one station on the board. While some parts of the tables are more open ended, there are some traits that instructors will want to be sure students identified correctly.
• Instructors should connect the fossils with what we know of the primate phylogeny. For example, traits shared among most/all primates are seen in the earliest fossils.
• Specifically, the primate phylogeny that goes with Stations 4-6 should be covered during the wrap-up. Students can hypothesize, based on the lab, where they would put these fossils. Instructors can then discuss the locations that primatologists are placing them - recognizing that there is not always agreement.

Adapting for Online Learning

If this is an in-person lab, rank how adaptable to online learning it would be(mark in bold): Easy to adapt

This lab can be adapted by utilizing 3-D images of extant primates and primate fossils available at such sites as Sketchfab https://sketchfab.com/ (all the fossils and extant primates utilized in this lab), eSkeletons http://www.eskeletons.org/ (all extant primates in this lab), and/or African Fossils https://africanfossils.org/ (some fossils and some extant primates in this lab).

Morphosource https://www.morphosource.org/ by Duke University also has a collection of 3-D fossil images.

For Further Exploration

• Dunsworth, Holly. 2015. How to Become a Primate Fossil. Nature Education Knowledge 6(7):1 https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/how-to-become-a-primate-fossil-135630567/
• Slicox, Mary T. 2014. Primate Origins and the Plesiadapiforms. Nature Education Knowledge 5(3):1 https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/primate-origins-and-the-plesiadapiforms-106236783/
• Talking Science. 2016. Gaga for Gigantopithecus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzhbvZB7e7Y

References

1. Perry, Jonathan and Stephanie Canington. 2019. “Chapter 8: Primate Evolution.” Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology, edited by Beth Shook, Katie Nelson, Kelsie Aguilera, and Lara Braff. Arlington, VA: American Anthropological Association. http://explorations.americananthro.org/