Question

_________ retain more primitive characteristics than other primates, such as partially enclosed orbits.

a) strepsirhines

b) haplorhines

c) platyrrhines

d) catarrhines

Which burial environments would best promote fossilization?

a) burial by sediments or volcanic ash soon after death

b) burial after de-fleshing bones by scavengers

c) burial in ground water or acidic soil

d) burial in geologically active area with hot springs

Which is true about absolute radiometric dating methods?

a) provide only a relative date

b) provide a numerical date

c) measure radioactive decay from lighter to heavier isotopes

d) determine past climate history through stable isotope analysis

The ancestors of platyrrhines were more likely to have originated with ______ as this fossil species shares many skeletal features in common.

a) Apidium

b) Catopithecus

c) Aegyptopithicus

d) Dryopithecus

Which statement about Old World monkey evolution is not currently supported?

a) Fully modern bilophodont molars first appear in Victoriapithecus

b) modern monkeys have reverted back to the ancestral Y-5 molar pattern

c) Old World monkeys became more diverse than apes in the late Miocene

d) ape diversity decreased due to direct competition with Old World monkeys

Answer 1

1) (a) strepsirhines - Strepsirrhines are traditionally characterized by several symplesiomorphic (ancestral) traits not shared with the simians, particularly the rhinarium. Other symplesiomorphies include long snouts, convoluted maxilloturbinals, relatively large olfactory bulbs, and smaller brains.

2) option -(a) burial by sediments or volcanic ash soon after death. - Hard parts like bones are the most likely to be preserved. It is much harder to preserve soft parts or the organism. The presence of Calcium carbonate which can come from broken and dissolved sea shells acts as a preservative.

3) (a) provide only a relative date - Absolute dating methods determine how much time has passed since rocks formed by measuring the radioactive decay of isotopes or the effects of radiation on the crystal structure of minerals.

4) (a) apidium - The most commonly found fossil species of parapithecid is Apidium phiomense, found like many of the species in the Jebel Qatrani Formation in Egypt

5) c) Old World monkeys became more diverse than apes in the late Miocene.