Primate phylogeny studied by comparative determinant analysis. A preliminary report.

In this preliminary report the divergence times for the major primate groups are given, calculated from a study by comparative determinant analysis of 69 proteins (equaling 0.1% of the whole genetic information). With an origin of the primate order set at 80 million years before present, the ages of the last common ancestors (LCAs) of man and the major primate groups obtained this way are as follows: Pan troglodytes 5.2; Gorilla gorilla 7.4; Pongo pygmaeus 19.2; Hylobates lar 20.3; Old World monkeys 31.4; Lagothrix lagotricha 46.0; Cebus albifrons 59.5; three lemur species 67.0, and Galago crassicaudatus 73.3 million years. The LCA results and the approach are shortly discussed. A full account of this extended investigation including results on nonprimate mammals and on the determinant structures and the immunologically derived evolutionary rates of the proteins analyzed will be published elsewhere.