Sergi López-Torres

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Verified

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• Ph.D.
• Assistant Professor at University of Warsaw

Numerous factors have stimulated new enthusiasm for understanding the process of primate origins, including new fossil discoveries, improvements to methods for analyzing molecular data, and technological advances. These novel approaches have led to a better appreciation of the complexities of early primate evolution. Eight fundamental questions pro...

Early lagomorphs are central to our understanding of how the brain evolved in Glires (rodents, lagomorphs and their kin) from basal members of Euarch-ontoglires (Glires + Euarchonta, the latter grouping primates, treeshrews, and colugos). Here, we report the first virtual endocast of the fossil lagomorph Megalagus turgidus, from the Orella Member o...

The structure of the bony labyrinth is highly informative with respect to locomotor agility (semicircular canals [SCC]) and hearing sensitivity (cochlear and oval windows). Here, we reconstructed the agility and hearing sensitivity of the stem lagomorph Megalagus turgidus from the early Oligocene of the Brule Formation of Nebraska (USA). Megalagus...

Anagalids are an extinct group of primitive mammals from the Asian Palaeogene thought to be possible basal members of Glires. Anagalid material is rare, with only a handful of crania known. Here we describe the first virtual endocast of an anagalid, based on the holotype of Anagale gobiensis (AMNH 26079; late Eocene, China), which allows for compar...

The timing and nature of evolutionary shifts in the relative brain size of Primates have been extensively studied. Less is known, however, about the scaling of the brain-to-body size in their closest living relatives, i.e., among other members of Euarchontoglires (Dermoptera, Scandentia, Lagomorpha, Rodentia). Ordinary least squares (OLS), reduced...

The geographic distribution of Crocodylia in Europe throughout the Cenozoic experienced fluctuations in the extension of its northern limit. Whereas crocodylians reached very high latitudes during the early Eocene (78ºN), their northward extension was more moderate during almost the entire Paleogene and the Neogene. Here we reassess previous Early-...

Primates are often considered to have a poor sense of smell. While all studies identify small olfactory bulbs (OB; the region of the brain responsible for processing scent) among haplorhines, whether or not strepsirrhines also possess small OBs is less clear, as is the evolutionary backdrop from which these patterns emerged. Here, we examine the re...

The fossil record of lorises and pottos (family Lorisidae) potentially dates back to the late Oligocene of Namibia, but a later moderate diversification of this family occurred during the Miocene of Africa and Asia. In the African Miocene, the family Lorisidae is represented solely by one genus: Mioeuoticus. The phyletic position of Mioeuoticus has...

This article provides a detailed taxonomic study of mammalian fossil fauna from five localities situated within the Middle Siwalik subgroup including the Nagri and Dhok Pathan formations in Punjab, Pakistan. Twenty‐three euungulate specimens comprised of isolated teeth, and maxillary and mandibular fragments, are described. This collection includes...

We present a new taxonomic study of fossil giraffids from the Siwaliks of Pakistan. The recovered material belongs to the family Giraffidae and includes a cranium of Vishnutherium priscillum, maxillary isolated cheek teeth of Bramatherium grande, maxillary isolated cheek teeth and mandibular fragments of Bramatherium megacephalum. These specimens w...

During the Miocene, major geographical and climatic changes impacted terrestrial vertebrate faunas, across Africa and Eurasia. In this time, central Eurasia was covered by a large inland sea called Paratethys which acted as a barrier for the dispersal of terrestrial animals. Unfortunately, the role of the northern coast of the Central Paratethys in...

Multistate morphological characters are routinely used in phylogenetic analyses. Individual multistate characters may be treated as linearly ordered, partially ordered, or unordered. Each option implies a hypothesis of character evolution, and significant debate surrounds the appropriateness of ordering multistate characters. Several previous analy...

Same-sex sexual behaviour (SSSB) occurs in most animal clades, but published reports are largely concentrated in a few taxa. Thus, there remains a paucity of published reports for most mammalian species. We conducted a cross-sectional expert survey to better understand the underlying reasons for the lack of publications on this topic. Most responde...

Studies integrating patterns of molar morphology and diet are particularly useful to address questions of evolutionary history and diet in extinct taxa. However, such studies are lacking among lorisoids compared with other primates. Lorisoidea is distinctive when considering diet as some taxa consume large quantities of gums or exudates, whereas ot...

Dental caries is one of the most common diseases afflicting modern humans and occurs in both living and extinct non-human primates, as well as other mammalian species. Compared to other primates, less is known about the etiology or frequency of caries among the Strepsirrhini. Given the link between caries and diet, caries frequency may be informati...

NOW ( New and Old Worlds ) is a global database of fossil mammal occurrences, currently containing around 68,000 locality-species entries. The database spans the last 66 million years, with its primary focus on the last 23 million years. Whereas the database contains records from all continents, the main focus and coverage of the database historica...

This chapter provides an overview of the fossil record for the key early euprimate groups, and for the plesiadapiforms, and discusses how this record relates to Primate Origins and to the origins of Strepsirrhini and Anthropoidea. Adapis was the first fossil primate to be named, although the reference in its name to Apis, the sacred Egyptian bull,...

Paromomyidae are one of several families of plesiadapiforms that flourished during the Paleocene in North America soon after the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs some 66 million years ago. Although they are often among the best-represented plesiadapiforms in mammalian faunas in both North America and Europe, the early history of paromomyids is poo...

The interpretation of early primate endocasts can be framed around four critical questions: (1) What are accurate estimates of endocranial capacity for known euprimate specimens? (2) What does the available data for stem primates tell us with respect to the earliest phases of primate brain evolution? (3) How should relative brain size be assessed?...

Flying squirrels (Sciurinae, Pteromyini) are the most successful group of gliding mammals. However, their fossil record mostly consists of isolated dental remains that provide very limited insights into their palaeobiology and evolution. The first skeleton of a fossil flying squirrel, belonging to the species Miopetaurista neogrivensis, has been de...

This is the latest edition. This only covers Chapter 24 "Primate evolution and the emergence of humans". For the full textbook, please visit: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/vertebrate-life-9780197564882?facet_narrowbybinding_facet=Looseleaf&lang=en&cc=us

Due to their global distribution, invasive history, and unique characteristics, European rabbits are recognizable almost anywhere on our planet. Although they are members of a much larger group of living and extinct mammals [Mammalia, Lagomorpha (rabbits, hares, and pikas)], the group is often characterized by several well-known genera (e.g., Oryct...

Ischyromyids are a group of large rodents with the earliest fossil record known from the late Paleocene (Clarkforkian) of North America; they are considered the earliest fossil representatives of Rodentia of modern aspect. Ischyromyids dominated early Paleogene small-mammal assemblages of North America and in the latest Paleocene migrated to wester...

Evolution, Ecology and Conservation of Lorises and Pottos - edited by K. A. I. Nekaris March 2020

Evolution, Ecology and Conservation of Lorises and Pottos - edited by K. A. I. Nekaris March 2020

Evolution, Ecology and Conservation of Lorises and Pottos - edited by K. A. I. Nekaris March 2020

Molar morphology plays a key role in the systematics and behavioral interpretation of fossil taxa, so understanding the developmental patterns that shape occlusal morphology in modern taxa is of central importance to informing analysis of the fossil record. The shape of the outer enamel surface (OES) of a tooth is largely the result of the forming...

Gummivory poses unique challenges to the dentition as gum acquisition may often require that the anterior teeth be adapted to retain a sharp edge and to resist loading because they sometimes must penetrate a highly obdurate substrate during gum extraction by means of gouging or scraping. It has been observed previously that the enamel on the labial...

Gummivory, a diet focused primarily on gums, is a relatively rare dietary niche among mammals, but is found in several species of strepsirrhine primates. Getting gums requires either gouging a wound in tree bark to stimulate gum flow or scraping at a semi‐dried gum plug. Both of these acquisition activities focus on the anterior dentition, and the...

Exudativory, the consumption of gums, is an obligate or a facultative dietary niche for some primates and marsupials. Exudativory has been cited as a dietary niche that may have been present in early primates, so finding a dental signature for exudativory is highly desirable. The present study combines exudativorous lorisoids (galagos and lorises)...

This is an old edition. For the latest edition, see 11th ed. This only covers Chapter 26 "Primate evolution and the emergence of humans". For the full textbook, please visit: https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/vertebrate-life-9781605356075?lang=en&cc=pl

Paromomyidae has been thought to represent the longest-lived group of stem primates (plesiadapiforms), extending from the early Paleocene to late Eocene. We analyzed primate material from the late-middle Eocene of southern California that had initially been ascribed to cf. Phenacolemur shifrae. This material falls at the lowest end of the size rang...

Anagalidae are extinct primitive Euarchontoglires from Asia, regarded as relatively closely related to basal Glires. So far, the group has been reported only from China and stratigraphically spans from the early Paleocene to the latest Eocene/earliest Oligocene. Anagalids are characterized by a relatively full dental formula featuring slightly enla...

Plesiadapiforms represent the first radiation of Primates, appearing near the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. Eleven families of plesiadapiforms are recognized, including the Paromomyidae. Four species of paromomyids from the early Eocene have been reported from Europe: Arcius fuscus Russell et al., 1967, Arcius lapparenti Russell et al., 1967, and...

Plesiadapiforms, appearing near the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, represent the first primate radiation and show a diverse array of tooth morphologies. Dental topographic metrics provide quantitative data on occlusal surface shape. We used three metrics, Dirichlet Normal Energy, Relief Index, and 3D Orientation Patch Count Rotated, to assess chang...

Very shortly after the disappearance of the non-avian dinosaurs, the first mammals that had features similar to those of primates started appearing. These first primitive forms went on to spawn a rich diversity of plesiadapiforms, often referred to as archaic primates. Like many living primates, plesiadapiforms were small arboreal animals that gene...

Dental topographic metrics provide quantitative, biologically meaningful data on the three-dimensional (3D) form of teeth. In this study, three dental topographic metrics (Dirichlet normal energy (DNE), relief index (RFI), and orientation patch count rotated (OPCR)) are used to evaluate the presence of dietary niche overlap between North American p...

Darwinius is an adapoid primate from the Eocene of Germany, and its only known specimen represents the most complete fossil primate ever found. Its describers hypothesized a close relationship to Anthropoidea, and using a Saimiri model estimated its age at death. This study reconstructs the ancestral permanent dental eruption sequences for basal Eu...

Figure S2: Phylogenetic relationships of the 97 taxa (extant and extinct) used in this analysis. Branch numbers correspond to Table S4, which provides the reference for each branch length.

Supplementary tables and text: - Table S1. Character matrix used for the ancestral state reconstruction analysis. - Table S2. Ancestral state reconstruction for five ancestral nodes (Euprimates, stem Strepsirrhini, crown Strepsirrhini, Haplorhini, and Anthropoidea) and 14 characters, including fossil data. - Table S3. Ancestral state reconstruction...