Understanding the evolution of the earliest primates

This project seeks to better understand the processes by which primates originated and diversified from three different perspectives. First, fieldwork in Wyoming and Montana will seek to uncover new specimens of poorly known groups of early primates. Second, the largest single sample of stem primates, including more than 1500 specimens of known age, will be studied to document patterns of evolution in one family, the Microsyopidae. Finally, high resolution X-ray computed tomography (CT) data will be used to reconstruct endocasts (internal models of the skull which reflect brain anatomy) from fossil primates and from our close living and fossil relatives, including rodents and rabbits. This research will provide a better understanding of what is primitive for Primates in terms of the size and form of the brain, and better characterize the very earliest stages in the development of the exceptionally large human brain. In all, this project will provide a much better understanding of the early phases of primate evolution, helping to characterize the evolutionary backdrop against which humans ultimately evolved.