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Earliest Primate Placed With Dinosaurs

Posted by michael on from the creative-anachronism dept.

Quirk writes "National Geographic has a piece suggesting the earliest primates were contemporaries of dinosaurs. The article is an endorsement for the evolutionary dating system using molecular-clock studies. The earliest primates according to the current fossil record suggests a common ancestor about 55 million years ago after the great dinosaur die-off. Relying on biology and mathematics the new study suggests a small, nocturnal creature of the tropical forests was the earliest primate. The research viewed fewer differences in genetic codes as an indicator that the more recently two species parted evolutionary company, and, math equations were used to flesh out the tree and to predict when and for how long species may have lived. So, really, a Rachel Welch lookalike in a skimpy fur bikini may have actually fled a rampaging T-Rex."

4 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. The origin of the species by realgone · · Score: 5, Funny
    Tavaré's team suggested that the earliest primates might have been small, nocturnal creatures...

    A-ha! Coders!

  2. No by 4of12 · · Score: 4, Funny

    So, really, a Rachel Welch lookalike in a skimpy fur bikini may have actually fled a rampaging T-Rex."

    Uh-huh.

    I beg to differ.

    When I saw Planet of the Apes for the first time and saw Raquel Welch in her fur bikini my first thought was NOT

    Recognize Creature = rodent
    DNA match = 0.982
    rather I thought her DNA was spectacularly different from that of myself and most people I knew, and in very important ways.
    --
    "Provided by the management for your protection."
  3. Mitochondrial DNA Concordance by juju2112 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It sounds like the technique they used was Mitochondrial DNA Concordance

    Mitochondrial DNA is different from nuclear DNA. With the help of mathematics, can be used to determine degrees of relatedness between species, and when two species diverged from their common ancestor. My Human Evolution professor explained this technique in class just yesterday. It was used as evidence that Neanderthals contributed no DNA to the Homo Sapien gene pool.

    Incidentally, talkorgins.org is a great site for this kinda stuff.

  4. an early primate sketch and an evolutionary tree by juju2112 · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Field Museum in Chicago, where this study was done, has an nice press release on this here.

    They also released a sketch of what the earliest common ancestor for primates might have looked like, and a nice evolutionary tree which might put some of this into perspective for some of you.