Hominoid Evolution and Climatic Change in Europe, Volume 2 Phylogeny of the Neogene Hominoid Primates of Eurasia

About this book

What is the place of Europe in the origin of humankind? Whilst our earliest human ancestors may have come out of Africa, many of our more recent ancestors, and those of other primates, left their fossil remains in Europe and the Near East. Hominoid primates including Dryopithecus in Spain and Hungary, Oreopithecus in Italy and Ouranopithecus in Greece flourished in the Miocene, between about 10-7 million years ago. Hominoid Evolution and Climatic Change in Europe, Volume 2 examines these and other hominoid fossils found in Eurasia and discusses what we can learn from them using biostratigraphic and ecological frameworks. In addition, new methods of analysing and visualising fossil hominoids are explored, including CT-based and computer-assisted virtual reconstruction of fossils to allow three-dimensional images of external and internal morphology of even fragmentary or distorted fossils. This volume will therefore be invaluable for practising palaeoanthropologists and palaeontologists whatever their specialism.

Contents

Part I. Chronology and Environment
1. Chronology and zoogeography of the Miocene hominoid record in Europe J. Agusti, L. Cabrera and M. Garces
2. The trophic context of hominoid occurrence in the Later Miocene of Western Eurasia - a primate-free view Mikael Fortelius and Arja Hokkanen

Part II. Methods and Phylogeny
3. Computer-assisted morphometry of hominoid fossils: the role of morphometric maps Christoph P. E. Zollikofer and Marcia S. Ponce de Leon
4. Comparative analysis of the iliac trabecular architecture in extant and fossil primates by means of digital image processing techniques: implications for the reconstruction of fossil locomotor behaviours Roberto Macchiarelli, Lorenzo Rook and Luca Bondioli
5. Dental microwear and diet in Eurasian Miocene catarrhines Tania King
6. How reliable are current estimates of fossil catarrhine phylogeny? An assessment using great apes and Old World monkeys Mark Collard and Bernard Wood
7. Cranial discrete variation in the great apes: new prospects in palaeoprimatology Jose Braga

Part III. Miocene Hominoids: Function and Phylogeny
8. Eurasian hominoid evolution in the light of recent Dryopithecus findings Meike Koehler, Salvador Moy...-Sol... and David M. Alba
9. Functional morphology of Ankarapithecus meteai Peter Andrews and Berna Alpagut
10. African and Eurasian Miocene hominoids and the origins of the Hominidae D. R. Begun
11. Phylogenetic relationships of Ouranopithecus macedoniensis (Mammalia, Primates, Hominoidea, Hominidae) of the late Miocene deposits of Central Macedonia (Greece) Louis de Bonis and George D. Koufos
12. Phylogeny and sexually dimorphic characters: canine reduction in Ouranopithecus Jay Kelley
13. Heterochrony and the cranial anatomy of Oreopithecus: some cladistic fallacies and the significance of developmental constraints in phylogenetic analysis D. M. Alba, S. Moy...-Sol..., M. Koehler and L. Rook
14. The Late Miocene hominoid from Georgia Leo Gabunia, Ekaterine Gabashvili, Abesalom Vekua and David Lordkipanidze
15. Forelimb function, bone curvature and phylogeny of Sivapithecus Brian G. Richmond and Michael Whalen
16. Sivapithecus and hominoid evolution: some brief comments David R. Pilbeam and Nathan M. Young

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Biography

Louis de Bonis is Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology in the Laboratoire de Geobiologie, Biochronologie & Paleontologie humaine at the University of Poitiers, France. He works on fossil primates and he is involved in understanding the origins of hominids and problems of paleoenvironments. He is also interested in the evolution of carnivores.

George D. Koufos is Professor of Palaeontology and Stratigraphy in the Department of Geology in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He works on fossil primates, equids and carnivores, as well on Neogene/Quaternary biochronology, biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironments.

Peter Andrews is a research scientist at the Natural History Museum in London, where he works on fossil primates, taphonomic and palaeoecological issues relating to the early stages of human evolution.