Anthro 105 Exam 2

red colobus monkeys

- Africa - Haplorhini - Catarrhini - Cercopithecoidea - Colobinae

Within the cercopithecoids, what are key features of colobines?

- Asia and Africa - Primarily leaf and seed eaters - Arboreal

How do primatologists determine dominance rank in a primate social group?

- Body size - Strength - Experience - Willingness to fight

How have different branches of primates shown different modes of adapting to low light conditions (in other words, nocturnal adaptations)?

- Different branches of primates have become nocturnal convergently - A sign on convergence is different modes of adapting to low light conditions - Within a nocturnal setting, different dietary strategies have caused different kinds of adaptations

What are some key features of the haplorrhines?

- Generally larger body size. - No tail. - Lower back is shorter and more stable.

What features do primates have in common?

- Large brains (in relation to body size) - Vision more important than sense of smell. - Hands adapted for grasping. - Long life spans and slow growth. - Few offspring, usually one at a time. - Complex social groups.

What are some key features of platyrrhines?

- Live in South and Central America - Tropical forests - Arboreal - Quadrupedal

Within the cercopithecoids, what are key features of cercopithecines?

- Mostly in Africa - Macaques in Asia - Great diversity in diet, size, habitat, social and mating strategies

What are some key features of the strepsirrhines?

- Tooth comb - Slightly smaller brain - Tapetum (reflective layer in back of eye)

What kinds of evidence do primatologists/biological anthropologists examine to study predation?

- Tracks made from a baboon's body after a leopard dragged it through the dirt - A leopard footprint next to the drag marks - The remains of a baboon after being killed and eaten by a predator

Charles Darwin came up with a mechanism for evolutionary change. What werehis three postulates that lead to evolution by natural selection?

1. There is a struggle for existence 2. There is a variation in features related to survival and reproduction 3. This variation is passed from generation to generation

What is an example of founder effect?

200 individuals moved to Eastern Pennsylvania in the 1700s and founded an Amish community that remained insular. Because individuals in the founder group carried an allele that causes a form of dwarfism called Ellis-van Creveld syndrome, this genetic disorder is much more common in this Amish population than elsewhere in the US

convergence

A binocular cue for perceiving depth; the extent to which the eyes converge inward when looking at an object

Mutation

A change in a gene or chromosome.

genetic drift

A change in the allele frequency of a population as a result of chance events rather than natural selection.

Species

A group of similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring.

Genus

A group of similar species

Clade

A group of species that includes an ancestral species and all its descendants.

Loris

A nocturnal strepsirhine found today in Asia and Africa

natural selection

A process in which individuals that have certain inherited traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates than other individuals because of those traits.

Tapetum

A reflective layer of the choroid in the eyes of many animals, causing them to shine in the dark.

Homoplasy

A similar (analogous) structure or molecular sequence that has evolved independently in two species.

prehensile tail

A tail that acts as a kind of a hand for support in trees, common in New World monkeys.

Adaptation

A trait that helps an organism survive and reproduce

lemur

An arboreal primate with a pointed snout and typically a long tail, found only in Madagascar.

Predation

An interaction in which one organism kills another for food.

Toothcomb

Anterior teeth (incisors and canines) that have been tilted forward, creating a scraper.

binomial nomenclature

Classification system in which each species is assigned a two-part scientific name

Colobines

Common name for members of the subfamily of Old World monkeys that includes the African colobus monkeys and Asian langurs.

Charles Darwin

English natural scientist who formulated a theory of evolution by natural selection (1809-1882)

Phylogeny

Evolutionary history of a species

What is the species name for humans?

Homo sapiens

Why are humans not at the top of a tree of life? Why are trees of life not hierarchical?

Humans are not "higher" or "more evolved" than other living lineages.

Which primates belong to the group called the hominoids?

Hylobatidae (gibbons), Pongidae (orangutans), and Hominidae (gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans)

Territoriality

In political geography, a country's or more local community's sense of property and attachment toward its territory, as expressed by its determination to keep it inviolable and strongly defended.

What other animals hunt and eat primates?

Large cats like leopards, as well as hyenas, eagles, and snakes

opsin genes

M and L opsins are located on the X chromosome, while the S and rhodopsin genes are located on other non-sex chromosomes

derived trait

New feature that had not appeared in common ancestors

what is an example of a genetic bottleneck?

Northern elephant seals have reduced genetic variation probably because of a population bottleneck humans inflicted on them in the 1890s.

Catarrhines

Old World Monkeys, Apes, Humans

Polyandry

One female, several males.

What is the species name for bonobos?

Pan paniscus

What is the species name for chimpanzees?

Pan troglodytes

Why is primate predation important? What are the counterstrategies to predation that primates use?

Predation provides energy to prolong the life and promote the reproduction of the organism that does the killing, the predator, to the detriment of the organism being consumed, the prey.

convergent evolution

Process by which unrelated organisms independently evolve similarities when adapting to similar environments

Linnaeus

Swedish botanist who proposed the modern system of biological nomenclature (1707-1778)

How is trichromacy a convergent feature in different branches of primates?

The clue to convergence is the different mechanisms of trichromatic vision on the two groups Still, some groups (some lemurs and platyrrhines) have allelic polymorphisms in the same gene in parallel

Though nonhuman primates can be found in a diverse range of habitats, theytend to be found where in the world?

The nonhuman primates have a wide distribution throughout the tropical latitudes of Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and South America.

Know the details of how Peter and Rosemary Grant observed evolution by natural selection in action in the Galapagos in the 1970s when there was a drought on the island Daphne Major. How did their study support Darwin's postulates?

The painstaking work of Rosemary and Peter Grant over the course of four decades with the Galapagos finches that inspired Charles Darwin has revealed that evolutionary changes can occur far faster than was ever thought possible

Cercopithecines

The subfamily of Old World monkeys that includes baboons, macaques, and guenons.

What features do tarsiers have in common with strepsirrhines and what features do they have in common with haplorrhines?

They resemble strepsirrhine primates in some ways by having grooming claws and a two-horned uterus, while having the dry nose and other features of haplorrhines. They also are highly specialized nocturnal predators, feeding on insects and small vertebrates.

life history

Traits that affect an organism's schedule of reproduction and survival.

parallel evolution

Two related species that have made similar evolutionary adaptations after their divergence from a common ancestor

Are humans primates?

Yes

pair bonding

a mating system in which a male and female form an exclusive mating relationship

Tarsier

a small insectivorous, tree-dwelling, nocturnal primate with large eyes, a long tufted tail, and long hind limbs, native to the islands of Southeast Asia.

chimpanzee

a small, very intelligent African ape with black or brown fur con tinh tinh

genetic bottleneck

a sudden reduction in the number of alleles in a population

primitive traits

a trait that has not changed from an ancestral state

monkey

a wild animal that can climb trees fast and easily

nocturnal

active at night

Cathemeral

active day or night

diurnal

active during the day

mobbing a predator

an antipredator adaptation in which individuals of prey species mob a predator by cooperatively attacking or harassing it, usually to protect their offspring

Why is color vision adaptive for primates?

being able to detect red fruits against a green background is the reason that trichromatic color vision evolved in primates

what are primates diverse in?

body size, habitat, diet, social structure, mating structure, activity patterns

What are key features of hominoids?

broad torsos with widely-spaced shoulder joints, stiff backs, long forelimbs, mobile limb joints, strong grasping ability, and the absence of a tail

founder effect

change in allele frequencies as a result of the migration of a small subgroup of a population

what's the difference between lesser apes and great apes?

general size

what is the genus name for gorilla?

gorilla

Hominoid

group of anthropoids that includes gibbons, orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans

what is the genus name for humans?

homo

Strepsirhines

lemurs and lorises

Galago

live in many African forests; also called Bushbabies

arboreal

living in trees

ape

monkey

primate

monkeys, apes, and humans

what is one example of how some primate species are more complicated than major types of social groupings in primates?

mountain gorilla groups (have more than one adult male)

gene flow

movement of alleles from one population to another

what is the major type of social grouping in primates

multi-male/female groups and polygynandry

Platyrrhines

new world monkeys

Cercopithecoids

old world monkeys

Semi-solitary

orangoutangs; females have a home range and raise offspring

what is the genus name for chimpanzees and bonobos?

pan

Trichromats

people who have normal color vision

Dichromat

person who has trouble seeing one of the primary colors (red, blue, or green); caused by a form of color deficiency

what is the genus name for orangutans?

pongo

Seasonality

regularly occurring conditions that vary with the time of year

Parallelism

similarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases, or clauses

Homology

similarity resulting from common ancestry

food availability

sufficient quantities of food available on a consistent basis

Haplorhines

tarsiers, monkeys, apes, humans

dilution effect

the reduced, or diluted, probability of predation to a single animal when it is in a group

home range

the spatial area used by a primate group

Why do we study nonhuman primates in a class about human evolution?

to better understand human biology

cones and rods

two types of photoreceptors

Are humans haplorrhines?

yes

Are humans hominoids?

yes