1. The earliest primate is thought to have appeared approximately

a. 100 million years ago

b. 65 million years ago

c. 25 million years ago

d. 100,000 years ago

2. Cladistic classification

a. defines groups based on overall observed similarities and differences

b. defines ancient groups entirely based upon the DNA sequences of living animals

c. defines groups based on how recently they shared a common ancestor

d. splits the primate order into prosimians and anthropoids

3. Which group name includes humans and the tarsier

a. Haplorhini

b. Strepsirhini

c. Catarhini

d. Platyrhini

4. Tarsiers lack which of the following typical prosimian features

a. relatively small brain

b. unfused jaw

c. split upper lip

d. vertical clinging and leaping

5. An adaptation is

a. all morphological features that organisms use during their daily activities.

b. all differences between two species with a common ancestor.

c. all similarities between two species with a common ancestor.

d. an aspect of an organism that improves its ability to survive and reproduce and is a result of natural selection.

6. A tooth comb is found in which of these primates

a. spider monkey

b. tarsier

c. colobus monkey

d. lemur

7. All of the following are true of Australopithecus afarensis EXCEPT that it

a. it had homomorphic lower premolars

b. had a parabolic maxillary dental arch

c. had a prognathic face

d. has been found at the Laetoli site

8. Which of these primates has a thin, wire-like third digit used to extract grubs

a. aye-aye

b. howler monkey

c. chimpanzee

d. baboon

9. The striking similarities in the upper bodies of the living hominoids are likely the result of

a. having an intermembral index of 50%

b. having a common ancestor who vertically clung and leapt.

c. having a common ancestor who brachiated.

d. None of the above

10. Which of the following is NOT a typical trait of the Platyrrhini

a. two premolars instead of three

b. small brain relative to the pongids

c. arboreal adaptation

d. lack of a tubular external auditory meatus

11. The woodpecker niche is filled by which primate in Madagascar

a. marmoset

b. lemur

c. bush baby

d. aye-aye

12. Which of these features is NOT characteristic of fruit-eating primates

a. small size body size relative to closely related folivorous forms

b. relatively high activity levels and energy demands

c. sacculated stomach

d. relatively large brains

13. In which of these monkeys is a relatively large area of the brain devoted to the control of the tail

a. spider monkey

b. squirrel monkey

c. tarsier

d. indri

14. Which member of the cercopithecinae is known to frequently hunt other mammals and eat their meat

a. baboon

b. vervet

c. colobus monkey

d. gibbon

15. Which primate as been known to kill unweaned infants when “peripheral males” take over a new group

a. spider monkey

b. loris

c. tarsier

d. langur

16. Sivapithecus

a. shares several unique features with modern orangutans

b. is known to have lived during the Eocene

c. is too fragmentary to show any traits that can be compared to living apes

d. early in the 20^th century was mistakenly classified as a member of the Hylobatidae

17. Which of these features is NOT associated with brachiation

a. long arms

b. chest flattened from front-to-back

c. limbs of equal length

d. big clavicles

18. A high degree sexual dimorphism is NOT seen in which of these animals

a. orangutans

b. gorillas

c. howler monkeys

d. spider monkey

19. In which of these apes are males usually solitary

a. gorilla

b. orangutan

c. chimpanzee

d. gibbon

20. Which of these primates hunts and eats meat, but usually refuse to share it

a. male chimpanzees

b. howler monkeys

c. gibbons

d. baboons

21. In punctuated equilibrium, the transformation of new species is slow process with continuous change from one form to another

a. True

b. False

22. The shape of the tibia (shin bone) and ankle of A. anamensis shows that it

a. only occasionally walked bipedally

b. frequently engaged in arm-swinging

c. was habitually bipedal

d. sometimes knuckle-walked

23. The howler monkey is characterized by which specialization

a. bilophodont molars

b. specialized hyoid bone

c. cheek pouch

d. relatively high activity levels relative to frugivorous primates

24. The tarsier is named for its specialized

a. cheek pouch

b. ischial callosity

c. heel bone

d. wet nose

25. Which primate often forms bands of males within their group in order to defend territory fight males from other communities

a. gibbon

b. gorilla

c. orangutan

d. chimpanzee

26. Lyell developed the idea of

a. natural selection

b. catastrophism

c. uniformitarianism

d. creationism

27. Fluorine concentrations tend to decrease in bones through time in geological deposits, while nitrogen builds up in bone over time

a. True

b. False

28. Which dating technique was used to discount the Piltdown fossil?

a. potassium-argon dating

b. carbon-14

c. DNA sequencing

d. nitrogen dating

29. Which of these dating techniques is not absolute?

a. dendrochronology

b. carbon-14

c. geomagnetic dating

d. varve analysis

30. Which dating technique does NOT require volcanic material?

a. potassium argon

b. varve analysis

c. geomagnetic dating

d. fission track

31. Palynology, ice cores, and deep-sea cores can all provide information about

a. past climatic conditions

b. the decay process of radiometric elements

c. the molecular clock

d. geomagnetic field fluctuations

32. Fine sediment suggests low velocity water

a. True

b. False

33. The “Sneaky bug snatcher” theory of primate origins suggests

a. that primates did not evolve in an arboreal environment

b. that sneaky bugs took over the primate niche and drove them into the more challenging savannah

c. that the selective pressures also included predation

d. that primates adapted because they were prey for other animals

34. Angiosperms

a. are recently evolved flower bearing plants such as cycads

b. have fruit with a closed ovary

c. are a type of bush baby

d. became extinct during the Cretaceous era

35. The heel-like project on lower molar teeth

a. is called the trigonid

b. is lower than the other cusps in fruit-eaters

c. is relatively high in comparison to the other cusps in fruit-eaters

d. doesn’t have any functional significance

36. Which of these is NOT true about Purgatorius

a. it is considered by some to be the earliest primate

b. lived during the Cretaceous era, 70-65 mya

c. its postcranial remains suggest that it was bipedal

d. its teeth show an increased emphasis on the processing of plant foods

37. Low cusps of equal height suggest

a. frugivory

b. folivory

c. insectivory

d. herbivory

38. Which epoch is the “Golden Age” of prosimians?

a. Eocene

b. Miocene

c. Paleocene

d. Oligocene

39. Plesiadapis

a. had continuously growing incisors

b. existed during the Miocene

c. was primarily an insectivore

d. had no postorbital bar

40. Most Eocene primates

a. looked like modern lemurs

b. looked like modern apes

c. looked like modern humans

d. looked like modern marsupials

41. The newly evolved Eocene prosimians lacked which features that are found in Paleocene primates such as Pleisadapis

a. quadrupedalism

b. rodent-like incisors

c. postorbital bar

d. nails

42. The omomyids were tarsier-like forms and an adapids were lemur-like forms.

a. True

b. False

43. The earliest anthropoids appear to have evolved in

a. in North America

b. in Eurasia

c. in Madagascar

d. in South America

44. Which of these features is not associated with anthropoids

a. a free tympanic ring

b. a tubular external auditory meatus

c. an orbit closed off in the back

d. a fused mandibular symphysis

45. Dryopithecus did NOT

a. exist in Eurasia

b. have a V-shaped dental arch

c. brachiate

d. eat fruit

46. Proconsul lacks which adaptation

a. Tubular external auditory meatus

b. knuckle-walking

c. reduced olfactory apparatus

d. two premolars

47. A. ramidus is unique in which of the following features?

a. It has premolars that are shaped much like those of a modern human.

b. It appears to have occupied a woodland area.

c. The fossils consist of several nearly complete specimens.

d. The fingers have look like those of a quadruped.

48. Aegyptopithecus does NOT

a. have a larger brain than prosimians

b. a post orbital bar with an eye-socket open in the back

c. have a large snout

d. walk quadrupedally

49. The “Golden Age” of apes occurred during the

a. Eocene

b. Miocene

c. Paleocene

d. Oligocene

50. The Fayum in Egypt is important because

a. early prosimians were found there

b. early anthropoids were found there

c. the first fossil with a postorbital bar was found there

d. it was the home of Australopithecus afarensis