PCB 4674C Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Hominidae, Catarrhini, Synapsid
Document Summary
In the following sections, we explore both fossil and molecular data as they bear on the question of human origins. 2) humans and their place in the tree of life. Humans belong to the primate taxon catarrhini (the humans, great apes, old world monkeys etc. ), which is nested within the eutherian (placental) mammals, which is in turn nested within mammalia, synapsida, then the. Within the catarrhini, humans are most closely related to the african great. Apes, gorillas chimps, and the chimp"s close relative, the bonobo: the sister group to the great apes is the orangutan, the sister to. Orangs plus the great apes is the gibbons, and the sister to gibbons, plus orangs, plus great apes is the old world monkeys (guenons, baboons etc. Anatomical data suggested human"s kinship with the great apes as far back as thomas huxley in1863, and some of the earliest molecular data supported this as well.
