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"Current interpretations of primate and human evolution are flawed because
paleontologists have relied too heavily on direct interpretation of the
known fossil record," says Robert D. Martin, VP academic affairs at The
Field Museum and co-author of the research published in Nature April 18.
The research has ramifications throughout paleontology, anthropology and
primatology and requires rewriting the story of primate evolution. For
example, if primates originated 85 Mya, then continental drift that broke up
Gondwanaland probably contributed to primate divergence.
Existing primates divided into six subgroups: lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, New
World monkeys, Old World monkeys, and apes and humans. Their 85-million-
year-old earliest common ancestor probably looked like a primitive, small-
brained version of today's dwarf lemur, Martin says.
That animal would probably have been nocturnal and tree-living, weighing 1-2
pounds, with grasping hands and feet. It probably had large forward-facing
eyes for stereovision. It inhabited tropical/subtropical forests, feeding on
a mixed diet composed mainly of fruit and insects. Like humans, it probably
had a slow breeding pace characterized by heavy investment in a small number
of offspring.
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