Afarensis: Monkeys!

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Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called Transitions:The Evolution of Life His previous blog can be found here.
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Monkeys!

Category: Anthropology
Posted on: April 25, 2006 8:48 PM, by afarensis, FCD

Kambiz has a great video over at Anthropology.Net - one everybody needs to see! So good that I'll overlook the fact that chimps are not monkeys!

Comments

Say hello to the cladist. Monkeys are a paraphyletic taxon. Old world monkeys and new world monkeys are monophyletic. If people are going to keep using the term monkeys (without the qualifiers old world and new world), then we need to include apes in the taxon monkey. Cladist, out.

Posted by: RPM | April 25, 2006 9:16 PM

And *that* I am showing to my class (of monkeys) tomorrow.

Posted by: John Lynch | April 25, 2006 10:01 PM

RPM - Somehow Catarrhines and Platyrrhines! Or Haplorhines and Strepsirhines! lacked the same umphh factor as a title...

John - Yup, totally well done...would have fit in great on Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy!

Posted by: afarensis, FCD | April 25, 2006 11:55 PM

(1) Consider the taxon 'monkey'. Would you define it in terms of common descent? Why or why not?

(2) Consider the most recent common ancestor of Old World monkeys and New World monkeys. Would you include that species in the taxon 'monkey'? Why or why not?

(3) Is it likely that the most recent common ancestor of Old World monkeys and New World monkeys is also ancestral to humans? Why or why not?

It seems to me that if the answers to (1), (2), and (3) are 'yes', it is reasonable to claim humans are descended from monkeys.

Posted by: llewelly | December 7, 2006 7:52 PM

It would also be reasonable to claim that humans are descended from adapids, or Morganucodon or therapsid reptiles or amoebas. Depends on where you want to stop. Monkey isn't a valid taxon, it's a common term for platyrrhines and catarrhines. Certainly each group is related via a common ancestor - which probably looked like a platyrrhine only different. Hate to sound vague on that. The problem is that extent platyrrhines and catarrhines are the results of millions of years of evolution (they split sometime in the Oligocene) consequently comparing them to their Oligocene and Miocene ancestors would lead one astray. As to what taxon they would be put in, probably anthropoidea.

Posted by: afarensis, FCD | December 7, 2006 8:42 PM

It would also be reasonable to claim that humans are descended from adapids, or Morganucodon or therapsid reptiles or amoebas. Depends on where you want to stop.

Agreed.
Thank you for mentioning Morganucodon, I didn't know about it. I picked the stopping point of the most recent common ancestor of Old World monkeys and New world monkeys because I thought it might help me clarify some issues about use of the term 'monkey'. Adapids I thought was also ancestral to lemurs and lorises? If so it's not where I want to stop, since lemurs and lorises are not monkeys.

Monkey isn't a valid taxon, it's a common term for platyrrhines and catarrhines.

Sorry - I see now RPM must have been joking. It's my understanding catarrhines includes humans - so it seems we are back to humans being monkeys whether it is a valid taxon or no?

The problem is that extent platyrrhines and catarrhines are the results of millions of years of evolution (they split sometime in the Oligocene) consequently comparing them to their Oligocene and Miocene ancestors would lead one astray. As to what taxon they would be put in, probably anthropoidea.

This seems to imply modern catarrhines and platyrrhines are sufficiently different from their Oligocene and Miocene ancestors that they may not resemble modern monkeys, is that what you mean?

Posted by: llewelly | December 7, 2006 9:39 PM

This seems to imply modern catarrhines and platyrrhines are sufficiently different from their Oligocene and Miocene ancestors that they may not resemble modern monkeys, is that what you mean?

Let me try that again. Would it be accurate to describe the Oligocene and Miocene ancestors of catarrhines and platyrrhines as 'early anthropoids'? (Assuming they belong in anthropoidea - all of the online phylogeney databases I can find place catarrhines and platyrrhines in anthropoidea.) Assuming it's ok to call them early anthropoids, is it likely early anthropoids differ enough from extant catarrhines and platyrrhines that they wouldn't look very 'monkey like'? Or is the problem that there are just not enough Oligocene primate fossils to answer this question?

Posted by: llewelly | December 7, 2006 9:50 PM

You would probably be able to recognize them as anthropoid primates (i.e. monkeys in common parlance), however they would look kind of weird. Yes, we are also catarrhines (or haplorhines depending on your taxonomic preferences). The same could be said about apes. Being a member of the order primates presumably one of our ancestors was also a prosimian. Monkey gets a bigger rise out of people though...

Posted by: afarensis, FCD | December 7, 2006 11:52 PM