Paleoprimatology in sub-equatorial Africa: Views from the Oligocene Nsungwe Formation of Tanzania

该项目通过对赤道以下非洲（坦桑尼亚）唯一的渐新世陆栖脊椎动物群落进行实地研究，探讨灵长类动物的进化历史。 研究人员以前曾在该地区发现过新的链鼻和灵长类动物。这项研究涉及俄亥俄州大学和坦桑尼亚达累斯萨拉姆大学之间的国际合作。该项目将为来自俄亥俄州大学的三名研究生和三名本科生提供培训机会，进行动手实验室和实地研究。研究将涉及坦桑尼亚学生和当地参与者。研究结果将在学术出版物和大众媒体上传播。该项目的科学外展包括互动网站、多语言博物馆展览和K-12学习活动。了解灵长类动物和其他生物如何应对环境变化对于科学家和公众来说都是一个及时的话题。非洲的新生代记录了一个显著而深刻的环境变化记录。该研究项目提供了化石记录中以前采样不足的新数据，首次记录了赤道以南非洲的渐新世哺乳动物。在这些发现中包括填补灵长类动物化石记录空白的新物种。在此之前的工作，完全缺乏数据，从这一间隔阻碍了我们的理解如何在全球气候模式和陆块配置的变化影响动物群的组成，通过时间。在渐新世-中新世界线附近，非洲陆地群落发生了巨大变化，非洲-阿拉伯大陆和欧亚大陆之间的碰撞导致许多定居生物被入侵的移民物种取代。这些变化对非洲灵长类动物捕食和竞争的平衡产生了深远的影响。该项目有三个主要目标：1）描述坦桑尼亚渐新世晚期Nsungwe组的新动物群，2）在该地区进行密集采样以获得更多信息，3）进行地质分析以记录含化石地点的精确年龄和古生态环境。该项目的数据将把渐新世早期的北方非洲动物群与整个大陆中新世地点的丰富数据联系起来，并将有助于检验关于该大陆生物变化动荡历史的假设。

This project examines primate evolutionary history through field research in the only Oligocene terrestrial vertebrate assemblage in Africa below the equator (Tanzania). The researchers have previously recovered novel strepsirrhine and anthropoid primates from this region. This research involves international collaboration between Ohio University and the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The project will provide training opportunities for three graduate and three undergraduate students from Ohio University to conduct hands-on laboratory and field research. Research will involve Tanzanian students and local participants. Results will be disseminated in scholarly publications and popular media. Science outreach for the project includes interactive websites, multilingual museum exhibits, and K-12 learning activities.Understanding how primates and other organisms respond to environmental change is a timely topic for scientists and the general public alike. The Cenozoic Era of Africa records a remarkable and deep record of environmental change through time. This research project provides new data from a previously undersampled interval in the fossil record, for the first time documenting Oligocene mammals from Africa south of the equator. Included among these finds are new species that fill a gap in the primate fossil record. Prior to this work, a complete lack of data from this interval has hampered our understanding of how changes in global climate patterns and landmass configuration affected faunal composition through time. Near the Oligo-Miocene boundary, dramatic changes occurred in African terrestrial communities, when a collision between the Afro-Arabian and Eurasian landmasses resulted in replacement of many of the resident organisms by invading immigrant species. These changes had profound implications for the balance of predation and competition for Africa's resident primates. This project has three main goals: 1) to characterize the new fauna from the late Oligocene Nsungwe Formation of Tanzania, 2) to intensively sample for additional informative localities in the region, and 3) to conduct geological analyses to document the precise age and paleoecological setting of fossiliferous localities. Data from this project will bridge early Oligocene northern African faunas with the wealth of data known from Miocene localities across the continent, and will help to test hypotheses regarding the continent's tumultuous history of biotic change.