New Interpretations of Ape and Human Ancestry

In the field of paleoanthropology there is perhaps no more compelling issue than the origin of the human lineage. From the 19th-Century proclamations of Darwin, Huxley, and Haeckel up to the present-day announcements of authorities such as Pilbeam, Johanson, and Leakey, controversy and debate have always surrounded the search for our earliest ancestors. Most authorities now agree that many important questions concerning ape and human ances try will be solved by further investigation of the hominoid primates of the Miocene and Pliocene, and through exacting comparative anatomical and biomolecular analyses of their living representatives. Indeed, these studies will yield a better understanding of (1) the cladogenesis (branching order) of the hominoid primates, (2) the morphotype (structural components) of the last common ancestor of humans and the living apes, (3) the timing and geographical placement of the hominid-pongid (human-ape) divergence and (4) the adaptive nature and probable scenario for the initial differentiation of hominids from pongids. In this context we organized a symposium entitled "Miocene Hominoids and New Interpretations of Ape and Human Ancestry" which met July 2-4, 1980, in Florence, Italy,just prior to the convening of the VIII Congress ofthe International Primatological Society. This Pre-Congress Symposium was at tended by a small group of anthropologists, anatomists, biochemists, ecolo gists, and paleontologists, all dedicated to a reanalysis of the evolutionary position and a more parsimonious interpretation of the Miocene hominoids vis a vis modern apes and humans.

Contenu
I. Paleontological and Geological Background.- 1 Overview of Ape and Human Ancestry: Phyletic Relationships of Miocene and Later Hominoidea.- 2 Geochronology and Zoogeographic Relationships of Miocene Hominoidea..- II. Evidence from Molecular Biology and Comparative Anatomy.- 3 The Bearing of Molecular Data on the Cladogenesis and Times of Divergence of Hominoid Lineages.- 4 A Model of Chromosome Evolution and Its Bearing on Cladogenesis in the Hominoidea.- 5 Apes, Humans, and Molecular Clocks: A Reappraisal.- 6 Cladistics and the Classification of the Great Apes.- III. Evidence from Craniodental Morphology.- 7 New Interpretations of the Phyletic Position of Oligocene Hominoids.- 8 Maxillofacial Morphology of Miocene Hominoids from Africa and Indo-Pakistan.- 9 A Reconsideration of the Endocast of Proconsul africanus: Implications for Primate Brain Evolution.- 10 The Enamel of Neogene Hominoids: Structural and Phyletic Implications.- IV. Evidence from Postcranial Morphology.- 11 Locomotor Adaptations of Oligocene and Miocene Hominoids and Their Phyletic Implications.- 12 New Postcranial Fossils of Proconsul africanus and Proconsul nyanzae.- 13 The Wrist of Proconsul africanus and the Origin of Hominoid Postcranial Adaptations.- 14 Miocene Hominoid Discoveries from Rudabánya: Implications from the Postcranial Skeleton.- 15 Miocene Hominoid Postcranial Morphology: Monkey-like, Ape-like, Neither, or Both?.- V. Evidence from Paleoenvironmental Studies.- 16 Sequence and Environments of the Lower and Middle Miocene Hominoids of Western Kenya.- 17 The Natural History of Sivapithecus.- 18 Facts and Fallacies Concerning Miocene Ape Habitats.- VI. Descriptive Analyses of Siwalik Miocene Hominoids.- 19 The Significance of Hitherto Undescribed Miocene Hominoids from the Siwaliks ofPakistan in the Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt.- 20 Miocene Hominoid Primate Dental Remains from the Siwaliks of Pakistan.- 21 Significance of Recent Hominoid Discoveries from the Siwalik Hills of India.- 22 Historical Notes on the Geology, Dating and Systematics of the Miocene Hominoids of India.- VII. Assessments of the Mio-Pliocene Evidence.- 23 A Reassessment of the Relationship between Later Miocene and Subsequent Hominoidea.- 24 Phyletic Relationships of Miocene Hominoids and Higher Primate Classification.- 25 Ramapithecus and Human Origins: An Anthropologist's Perspective of Changing Interpretations.- 26 Ramapithecus and Pan paniscus: Significance for Human Origins.- 27 Toward the Resolution of Discrepancies between Phenetic and Paleontological Data Bearing on the Question of Human Origins.- 28 Morphological Trends and Phylogenetic Relationships from Middle Miocene Hominoids to Late Pliocene Hominids.- 29 Australopithecus africanus: Its Phyletic Position Reconsidered.- VIII. Concluding Remarks and Summary Comments.- 30 Hominoid Cladistics and the Ancestry of Modern Apes and Humans: A Summary Statement.- Author Index.- Taxonomic Index.- Specimen Index.