Beard K C, Dagosto M, Gebo D L, Godinot M
Department of Cell Biology & Anatomy, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205.
Nature. 1988 Feb 25;331(6158):712-4. doi: 10.1038/331712a0.
One of the most controversial issues in primate palaeontology concerns the phylogenetic position of the extinct primate infraorder Adapiformes. During the Eocene, this group of primates of modern aspect possessed a holarctic distribution, and may have been present in the poorly known Palaeogene of Africa. Mainly on the basis of craniodental morphology, at least four hypotheses have been proposed concerning the phylogenetic interrelationships among adapiforms and other primate higher taxa: (1) that adapiforms are ancestral to both lemuriforms (including Lorisoidea) and anthropoids; (2) that adapiforms cannot be shown to possess a special phylogenetic relationship with either lemuriforms or anthropoids; (3) that adapiforms are the sister taxon of lemuriforms; and (4) that Adapiformes is not a natural, monophyletic group, but rather consists of nested clades within the radiation of lemuriforms. Here, we describe features of the ankle and wrist joints of several adapiform taxa that provide an independent test of the preceding hypotheses. These traits suggest that lemuriforms are monophyletic with respect to known adapiforms, but that adapiforms nevertheless are their stem lineage (sensu Ax).
灵长类古生物学中最具争议的问题之一涉及已灭绝的灵长类下目兔猴型亚目（Adapiformes）的系统发育位置。在始新世期间，这一类具有现代外观的灵长类动物分布于全北区，并且可能存在于鲜为人知的非洲古近纪。主要基于颅齿形态学，已经提出了至少四种关于兔猴型亚目与其他灵长类高级分类单元之间系统发育相互关系的假说：（1）兔猴型亚目是狐猴型亚目（包括懒猴总科）和类人猿的祖先；（2）无法证明兔猴型亚目与狐猴型亚目或类人猿具有特殊的系统发育关系；（3）兔猴型亚目是狐猴型亚目的姐妹分类单元；以及（4）兔猴型亚目不是一个自然的单系类群，而是由狐猴型亚目辐射范围内的嵌套分支组成。在此，我们描述了几个兔猴型分类单元的踝关节和腕关节特征，这些特征为上述假说提供了独立检验。这些特征表明，相对于已知的兔猴型亚目，狐猴型亚目是单系的，但兔猴型亚目仍然是它们的干群（按照阿克的定义）。
