Collaborative Research: Paleontological Investigations to Recover Fossil Monkeys from the Cenozoic of South America

9414474只新世界猴子的祖先麦克法登在新生代早期的某个时候到达了南美洲，但由于化石记录不充分，只有间接的证据表明何时或从哪里来--直接来自非洲的可能性仍然很明显。南美洲的第一个记录是在玻利维亚的萨拉，可以追溯到大约2500万年前。这一合作实地项目的目标是收集更多萨拉最早的南美洲灵长类动物的材料并准确测定年代，可能还包括玻利维亚其他地方的材料，并探索阿根廷类似年代的地层，以及很可能存在祖先形态的更早的阿根廷地层。这个项目将为这些灵长类动物的起源提供亟需的线索，这些灵长类动物与我们在非洲的祖先平行进化。***

9414474 MacFadden Forbears of New World Monkeys reached South America some time in the early Cenozoic, but because of an inadequate fossil record there are only indirect lines of evidence about when or from where - direct from Africa remains a distinct possibility. The first record of them in South America occurs at Salla, Bolivia, and dates to about 25 million years ago. The goal of this collaborative field project is to collect and date accurately more material of the earliest South American primates at Salla and possibly elsewhere in Bolivia and to explore Argentina strata of similar age, and earlier, where it is very likely ancestral forms should be found. This project will shed much needed light on the origins of these primates who evolved in parallel with our own ancestors in Africa. ***