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II. Traits, Trends, and Taxonomy
Outline to Chapter 2
*Box 2.1: The Notable Neocortex
Distinguishing Traits
Allometric Scaling of Brain and Body Size
Effects of Diet
Life Histories and Their Social Consequences
Sexual Dimorphism
Other Morphological Traits
Stereoscopic Vision
Distinguishing Features of the Hands and Feet
The Collar Bone and Arm Mobility
Teeth
Systematics
Taxonomic Considerations
Major Taxonomic Groups
Prosimians
Anthropoids
New World Monkeys
Old World Monkeys
*Box 2.2: Fundamentals of Food Processing
Apes
Cladistic Analysis
Phylogenetic Analyses of Behavior
Evidence Related to Diet
Evidence Related to Ranging Patterns
Evidence Related to Mating Systems
Evidence Related to Dispersal Patterns
Chapter Overview
The first part of this chapter outlines the basic ways in which primates differ from other
mammals, beginning with their large brains relative to body size. The energetics of
body size and their effects on diets, life histories, and sexual dimorphism are discussed.
Eyes, hands, feet, shoulder mobility, and teeth are described.
The second part reviews current classification schemes, and discusses some of the
most controversial classifications. Each of the major taxonomic groups and some of
their defining anatomical and behavioral features are introduced. The final part explains
how traits are used to understand the evolutionary relationships among species.
10 Primate Behavioral Ecology
Examples illustrate how understanding patterns in the diets, sexual dimorphism, and
dispersal of living species can provide insights into those of extinct species.
Box 2.1 focuses on the expansion of the neocortex and its likely role in social and
cognitive evolution.
Box 2.2 describes the food processing functions of cheek pouches in cercopithecines.
This box features research by Dr. Joanna Lambert on different primates in Kibale
National Park, Uganda.
Highlights of the Fourth Edition
1. In addition to the updated Appendix, a more extended discussion of taxonomic
considerations has been included in this edition. Following one reviewer’s
suggestion, the sections on systematics and cladistic analysis were reorganized and
clarified. Instructors should consult Table 1.1 and Figures 2.10 for updates since the
Third Edition.
2. The sections on trichromatic vision and locomotion have been updated based on
new discoveries.
3. New findings on ancestral primates, including North American and Asian fossils, are
now included.
Traits, Trends, and Taxonomy 11
Key Terms and Concepts
adaptation hominin precocial
allometric scaling,
allometry hominoid prehensile tail
altricial homology premolar
anthropoid homoplasy primitive trait
basal metabolic rate,
BMR incisor Prosimii, prosimian
bipedal isometric scaling quadrumanous
brachiator Jarman/Bell principle quadrupedal
canine knuckle-walker recombination
catarrhine last common ancestor (LCA) sacculated stomach
cercopithecine Machiavellian intelligence sexual dimorphism
cheek pouch masseter muscle sexual monomorphism
clade mitochondrial DNA, mtDNA specialized trait
cladistic analysis molar stereoscopic vision
clavicle molecular clock Strepsirhini
colobine monotypic suspensory
convergent evolution morphology systematics
dental formula mutation tactical deception
derived trait neocortex tapetum
expedience opposable thumb taxa
generalized trait parallel evolution taxonomic classification
guenon platyrrhine temporalis muscle
Haplorhini polytypic trichromatic vision
hominid precision grip
Lecture Ideas
Material in this chapter can be covered in two or three lectures. During one, review the
trends that characterize the primate order and taxonomy. Relative brain size usually
requires some explanation, and drawing the relationship between brain and body size
helps to get students accustomed to interpreting graphs. It is logical to extend the
graph to illustrate the effects of body and brain size on diets and life history parameters.
Life history traits lead nicely into how the extended juvenile periods and long lifespans of
most primates contribute to the development of their complex communication, social
organizations, and social relationships. Although cognitive abilities are covered in
greater detail in Chapter 10, introducing the topic here provides a way to capture
12 Primate Behavioral Ecology
student attention and focus their interest on some of the ways in which primates differ
from many other mammals.
Clarify the level of taxonomic knowledge that will be expected in your course.
Comparisons among Table 1.1 (in Chapter 1), Figures 2.10 and 2.11, and the new
Appendix may be instructive. Situating the taxonomic names of species you are likely
to focus on in future lectures is also useful to students concerned with what they will be
expected to know for exams. Asking students to identify each of the major taxonomic
groups to which humans belong, as shown in Figure 2.10, is one way to emphasize the
level of specificity that will be expected. I usually draw this out, beginning with humans
as hominids, hominoids, catarrhines, etc. so that students see how each higher
taxonomic unit is increasingly inclusive. Students are likely to copy it out for themselves
in their class notes. If lecture time is limited, it may be worthwhile to distribute and
review a handout.
Once students have a grasp on taxonomy, work through some examples of how
homologies and homoplasies can help to interpret evolutionary relationships among
primates in a second lecture. Starting with an obvious example, such as bipedality in
humans versus knuckle-walking in chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas, and then
carrying it out to increasingly distant last common ancestors will illustrate the
importance of the fossil record. Brachiation in gibbons and suspensory locomotion in
New World spider monkeys and muriquis demonstrate parallel evolution. This or other
similar examples can provide a transition into the concepts of ecological adaptations.
Suggested exercise: Provide a worksheet listing different primates (e.g., chimpanzees,
bonobos, gorillas, macaques, capuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, and spider
monkeys) and different behavioral categories (e.g., diet, grouping patterns, dispersal
systems, primary social bonds). Fill it in with the students, and then ask them to
decipher as much as possible what the behavioral characteristics of the last common
ancestors of the genus Pan, the African hominoids, catarrhines, platyrrhines, and
anthropoids were. Difficulties in completing the table illustrate the importance of more
comparative data on extant, as well as extinct, primates.
Traits, Trends, and Taxonomy 13
Sample Test Questions
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following traits does not distinguish primates from other
mammals?
A. Nails instead of claws
B. Large brains relative to body size
C. Stereoscopic vision
D. Gestation and lactation by females
2. The neocortex is associated with:
A. Color vision
B. Reasoning abilities
C. Brain development
D. Primitive limbic functions
3. According to the Jarman/Bell principle, large bodied animals:
A. Can subsist on large quantities of poor quality foods
B. Require large quantities of high quality foods
C. Do not need much food, but what they eat must be high in quality
D. Need small amounts of low quality foods
4. Which of the following is not allometrically scaled with body size among
closely related organisms?
A. Lifespan
B. Basal metabolic requirements
C. Degree of sexual dimorphism
D. Gestation length
5. The dental formula of catarrhines is:
A. 2-1-3-3
B. 3-1-2-3
C. 2-1-2-3
D. 2-1-3-2
14 Primate Behavioral Ecology
6. Which one of the following taxonomic groups does not include humans?
A. Platyrrhines
B. Catarrhines
C. Hominoids
D. Hominids
7. The tapetum:
A. Is found only in nocturnal lemurs
B. Is found in all known lemurs
C. Is a trait that distinguishes all primates from mammals
D. Is an adaptation to diurnal lifestyles
8. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is useful in molecular approaches to
understanding evolutionary relationships because:
A. It is found in the nucleus of all cells
B. It is the only kind of DNA with noncoding regions
C. It is only inherited through the mother
D. It is similar to RNA
9. Which of the following represent alternative taxonomic positions for tarsiers?
A. Anthropoids or Strepsirhines
B. Anthropoids or Haplorhines
C. Prosimians or Strepsirhines
D. Prosimans or Haplorhines
10. The two main divisions of the Primate Order, at the level of suborders, are:
A. Catarrhini and Platyrrhini
B. Prosimii and Anthropoidea
C. Prosimianii and Strepsirhini
D. Platyrrhini and Anthropoidea
Traits, Trends, and Taxonomy 15
11. Depending on the classification system used, the tarsiers have been classified
in which of the following two taxonomic groups?
A. Prosimii or Haplorhini
B. Prosimii or Platyrrhini
C. Haplorhini or Anthropoidea
D. Strepsirhini or Haplorhini
12. The only primates to possess fully prehensile tails are:
A. Some callitrichids
B. Some cebids
C. Some cercopithecines
D. Some lemurs
13. The two superfamilies of the Catarrhini are:
A. Ceboidea and Cercopithecoidea
B. Ceboidea and Hominoidea
C. Cercopithecoidea and Colobinae
D. Cercopithecoidea and Hominoidea
14. Old World monkeys are divided into the:
A. Cercopithecinae and Colobinae
B. Cercopithecidae and Hylobatidae
C. Colobinae and Homininae
D. D.Callitrichidae and Cercopithecidae
15. Which of the following types of primates possess cheek pouches:
A. Prosimians
B. Cercopithecine monkeys
C. Colobine monkeys
D. Hominoids
16. The success of the colobines can be attributed to:
A. Their anatomical specializations for digesting leaves
B. Their large incisors, which permit them to bite into fruit
C. Their routine production of twins up to twice a year
D. Their flat molars for grinding seeds
16 Primate Behavioral Ecology
17. The only primates that lack tails are:
A. Catarrhines
B. Platyrrhines
C. Anthropoids
D. Hominoids
18. When two species share the same trait that can be traced to their last common
ancestor, the trait is known as a:
A. Dominant
B. Homology
C. Homoplasy
D. Convergence
19. None of the extant apes live in:
A. Extended matrilines
B. Extended patrilines
C. Groups with nonkin
D. Pair-bonded family groups
20. Societies in which males typically disperse and females remain in their natal
groups:
A. Are found in all primates
B. Characterize the societies of most hominoids
C. Characterize the societies of most cercopithecines
D. Are found only in some species of lemurs
21. The similarities in the fluid, fission-fusion grouping patterns of chimpanzees
and spider monkeys can be explained by:
A. Their shared ancestry as primates
B. Their dietary preferences for ripe fruits
C. Their similar modes of locomotion
D. Their matrilocal, matrilineal societies
Traits, Trends, and Taxonomy 17
Short Answer/Essay
1. List five traits that tend to distinguish primates from other mammals.
2. List three life history traits.
3. Describe three of the four different locomotor systems found in apes.
4. Draw the phylogenetic relationships of the African hominoids, and indicate the
position of last common ancestor between humans and apes.
5. Name one nonhuman primate found in each of the following areas today:
Madagascar, Japan, Indonesia, Brazil, India, Africa.
6. Two primate species inhabit the same tropical forest, where logging operations have
severely disturbed the habitat. There is no evidence that either species has been
hunted, but in just a few years, the population size of one species declines. You
know that one was a large, folivorous primate, and the other a smaller-bodied
frugivore. Using your knowledge of body size energetics and life histories, explain
which of the two species is most vulnerable to the kind of population crash
described. (This may also be appropriate, with modifications, for Chapter 11).
7. Discuss the significance of trichromatic vision and its distribution among Primates.
