Investigating the Origin and Early Evolution of Primates in Asia

这项研究旨在阐明我们对灵长类动物和人类进化知识中最大的空白之一——了解最早的灵长类动物是何时、何地以及如何进化的。现代灵长类动物包括狐猴、懒猴、丛林猴、眼镜猴、猴子、猿和人类。目前，化石记录还不足以解决灵长类动物进化最早阶段的一些重要问题。目前，最古老的灵长类化石大约有5500万年的历史。然而，在这个时候，灵长类动物已经拥有了几乎现代的解剖学，而且它们已经分化成几个主要群体。这两点都表明，灵长类动物经历了进化史上某个较早的时期，而这段时期迄今为止还没有得到古生物学家的最大努力。由于灵长类动物最近的现存亲缘关系和化石亲缘关系都是在亚洲发现的，我们将在该大陆寻找更多的早期灵长类动物的化石证据。具体来说，我们将调查内蒙古适当年代的含化石地层，以测试灵长类动物在亚洲是否比在地球上其他地方出现得更早。在该地区的初步田野调查表明，在那里可以发现大量的小型树栖哺乳动物化石，这表明，一旦收集到合理的样本，早期灵长类动物也会被发现。我们还将对亚洲灵长类动物化石进行解剖学和进化研究，这些化石是我们早期在该地区探险时收集的。除此之外，这项研究将表明，亚洲拥有的早期灵长类动物的范围比之前怀疑的要大。这些新的和未被描述的亚洲灵长类动物中，有些与北美的化石有亲缘关系，而另一些则与非洲的化石有亲缘关系。一旦对这些新的亚洲化石的进化研究完成，我们将对全球气候变化和大陆漂移如何影响我们远亲灵长类动物的早期进化有更深入的了解。该项目将通过以下方式推进更广泛的社会目标：(1)通过通俗书籍、杂志文章、博物馆展览和公开讲座，提高公众对进化生物学和古人类学的理解；(2)培养学生在古生物学和古人类学方面的实践和理论能力；(3)加强中美科学家之间的国际合作；(4)形成独特的化石收藏，成为未来几代学者的永久资源。

This research aims to illuminate one of the largest remaining gaps in our knowledge of primate and human evolution-understanding when, where, and how the earliest primates evolved. Modern primates include lemurs, lorises, bushbabies, tarsiers, monkeys, apes and humans. Currently, the fossil record is inadequate to resolve a number of important questions about the earliest phases of primate evolution. At present, the oldest fossil primates are roughly 55 million years old. However, by this time primates already possessed virtually modern anatomy, and they had already diversified into several major groups. Both of these points imply that primates experienced some earlier interval of evolutionary history that has so far eluded the best efforts of paleontologists. Because the nearest living and fossil relatives of primates are found in Asia, we will search for additional fossil evidence of early primates on that continent. Specifically, we will survey fossil-bearing strata of appropriate age in Inner Mongolia to test whether primates appear earlier in Asia than they do elsewhere on the planet. Preliminary fieldwork in this region has shown that small, tree-dwelling fossil mammals can be recovered there in great abundance, suggesting that early primates will also be found once reasonable samples are collected. We will also undertake anatomical and evolutionary studies of fossil primates from Asia that were collected by our earlier expeditions to this region. Among other things, this research will show that Asia harbored a wider range of early primates than was previously suspected. Some of these new and undescribed Asian primates are related to fossils from North America, while others share affinities with African fossils. Once evolutionary studies of these new Asian fossils are completed, we will have a much greater understanding of how global climate change and continental drift impacted the early evolution of our distant primate relatives.This project will advance broader societal objectives by: (1) increasing public understanding of evolutionary biology and paleoanthropology through popular books, magazine articles, museum exhibits, and public lectures; (2) training students in practical and theoretical aspects of paleontology and paleoanthropology; (3) enhancing international collaboration among American and Chinese scientists; and (4) generating a unique collection of fossils that will become a permanent resource for scholars for generations to come.