Primate Adaptation and Evolution

Primate Adaptation and Evolution, Third Edition, is a thorough revision of the text of choice for courses in primate evolution. The book retains its grounding in the extant primate groups as the best way to understand the fossil trail and the evolution of these modern forms. However, this coverage is now streamlined, making reference to the many new and excellent books on living primate ecology and adaptation – a field that has burgeoned since the first edition of Primate Adaptation and Evolution.

By drawing out the key features of the extant families and referring to more detailed texts, the author sets the scene and also creates space for a thorough updating of the exciting developments in primate palaeontology – and the reconstruction through early hominid species – of our own human origins. This updated version covers recent developments in primate paleontology and the latest taxonomy, and includes over 200 new illustrations and revised evolutionary trees.

This text is ideal for undergraduate and post-graduate students studying the evolution and functional ecology of primates and early fossil hominids.

Adaptation, Evolution, and Systematics; The Primate Body; Primate Lives; Prosimians; New World Anthropoids; Old World Monkeys; Apes and Humans; Primate Communities; Primate Adaptations; The Fossil Record; Primate Origins; Fossil Prosimians; Early Anthropoids; Fossil Platyrrhines; Fossil Apes; Fossil Old World Monkeys; Fossil Hominids; Patterns in Primate Evolution