Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Elwyn Simons: A Search for Origins pp 159–180Cite as

Paleontological Exploration in Africa

A View from the Rukwa Rift Basin of Tanzania

  • Chapter

Part of the book series: Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects ((DIPR))

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Andrews, C. W. (1901). Preliminary note on some recently discovered extinct vertebrates from Egypt. Part I. Geol. Mag. 4(8):400–409.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrews, C. W. (1902). Preliminary note on some recently discovered extinct vertebrates from Egypt. Part III. Geol. Mag. 4(9):291–295.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ankel-Simons, F., Fleagle, J. G., and Chatrath, P. S. (1998). Femoral anatomy of Aegyptopithecus zeuxis, an early Oligocene anthropoid. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 106:413–424.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Archer, M., Flannery, T. F., Ritchie, A., and Molnar, R. E. (1985). First Mesozoic mammal from Australia – an early Cretaceous monotreme. Nature 318:363–366.

    Google Scholar 

  • Archibald, J. D., and Fastovsky, D. E. (2004). Dinosaur extinction. In: Weishampel, D. B., Dodson, P., and Osmólska, H. (eds.), The Dinosauria (Second Edition). University of California Press, Berkeley, pp. 672–684.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnason, U., Adegoke, J. A., Bodin, K., Born, E. W., Esa, Y. B., Gullberg, A., Nilsson, M., Short, R. V., Xu, X., and Janke, A. (2002). Mammalian mitogenomic relationships and the root of the eutherian tree. P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99:8151–8156.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Asher, R. J., and Krause, D. W. (1998). The first pre-Holocene (Cretaceous) record of Anura from Madagascar. J. Vert. Paleon. 18:696–699.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beadnell, H. J. L. (1902). A preliminary note on Arsinoitherium zitteli Beadnell from the upper Eocene strata of Egypt. Egypt Surv. Dept., Pub. Works Min. 1902:1–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonaparte, J. F., and Powell, J. W. (1980). A continental assemblage of tetrapods from the Upper Cretaceous beds of El Brete, northwestern Argentina (Sauropoda Coelurosauria-Carnosauria-Aves). Mem. Soc. Geol. France 139:19–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bown, T. M. (1982). Ichnofossils and rhizoliths of the nearshore fluvial Jebel Qatrani Formation (Oligocene), Fayum Province, Egypt. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 40:255–309.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bown, T. M., Kraus, M. J., Wing, S. L., Fleagle, J. G., Tiffany, B., Simons, E. L., and Vondra, C. F. (1982). The Fayum forest revisited. J. Hum. Evol. 11(7):603–632.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckley, G. A., and Brochu, C. A. (1999). An enigmatic new crocodile from the Upper Cretaceous of Madagascar. In: Unwin, D. (ed.), Cretaceous Fossil Vertebrates: Special Papers in Palaeontology, No. 60. The Palaeontological Association, London, pp. 149–175.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckley, G. A., Brochu, C. A., Krause, D. W., and Pol, D. (2000). A pug-nosed crocodyliform from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. Nature 405:941–944.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carrano, M. T., Sampson, S. D., and Forster, C. A. (2002). The osteology of Masiakasaurus knopfleri, a small abelisauroid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 22:510–534.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chiappe, L. M., Salgado, L., and Coria, R. A. (2001). Embryonic skulls of titanosaur sauropod dinosaurs. Science 293:2444–2446.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, J. A., Tambussi, C. P., Noriega, J. I., Erickson, G. M., and Ketcham, R. A. (2005). Definitive fossil evidence for the extant avian radiation in the Cretaceous. Nature 433:305–308.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Covert, H. H., and Hamrick, M. W. (1993). Description of new skeletal remains of the early Eocene anaptomorphine primate Absarokius (Omomyidae) and a discussion about its adaptive profile. J. Hum. Evol. 25:351–362.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cracraft, J. (2001). Avian evolution, Gondwanan biogeography, and the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction event. P. Roy. Soc. Lond. B. Biol. 268:459–469.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Curry Rogers, K. A., and Forster, C. A. (2001). The last of the dinosaur titans: A new sauropod from Madagascar. Nature 412:530–534.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Damblon, F., Gerrienne, P., D’Outrelepont, H., Delvaux, D., Beeckman, H., and Back, S. (1998). Identification of a fossil wood specimen in the Red Sandstone Group of southwestern Tanzania: stratigraphical and tectonic implications. J. Afr. Earth Sci. 26:387–396.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Blieux, D. D., and Simons, E. L. (2002). Cranial and dental anatomy of Antilohyrax pectidens: A late Eocene hyracoid (Mammalia) from the Fayum, Egypt. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 22(1):122–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Klerk, W. J., Forster, C. A., Sampson, S. D., Chinsamy, A., and Ross, C. F. (2000). A new coelurosaurian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of South Africa. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 20(2):324–332.

    Google Scholar 

  • Depéret, C. (1896). Note sur les dinosauriens sauropodes et théropodes du Crétacé supérieur de Madagascar. Bul. Soc. Géol. Fr. 21:176–194.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Queiroz, A. (2005). The resurrection of oceanic dispersal in historical biogeography. Trends Ecol. Evol. 20:68–73.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • de Wit, M. J. (2003). Madagascar: Heads it’s a continent, tails it’s an island. Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 31:213–248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dixey, F. (1928). The Dinosaur Beds of Lake Nyasa. Trans. Geol. Soc. S. Afr. 16:55–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fejfar, O. (1987). Oligocene rodents from Zallah Oasis, Libya. Munchner Geowiss. Abh. A 10:265–268.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleagle, J. G. (1999). Primate adaptation and evolution. Academic Press, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleagle, J. G., and Bown, T. M. (1983). New primate fossils from late Oligocene (Colhuehuapian) localities of Chubut Province, Argentina. Folia Primatol. 41(3–4):240–266.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fleagle, J. G., and Simons, E. L. (1982). The humerus of Aegyptopithecus zeuxis: A primitive anthropoid. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 59:175–193.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fleagle, J. G., and Simons, E. L. (1983). The tibio-fibular articulation in Apidium phiomense, an Oligocene anthropoid. Nature 301:238–239.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleagle, J. G., and Simons, E. L. (1995). Limb skeleton and locomotor adaptations of Apidium phiomense, an Oligocene anthropoid from Egypt. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 97:235–289.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fleagle, J. G., Kay, R. F., and Simons, E. L. (1980). Sexual dimorphism in early anthropoids. Nature 287:328–330.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Flynn, L. J., Brillanceau, A., Brunet, M., Coppens, Y., Dejax, J., Duperon-Laudoueneix, M., Ekodeck, G., Flanagan, K. M., Heintz, E., Hell, J., Jacobs, L. L., Pilbeam, D. R., Sen, S., and Djallo, S. (1987). Vertebrate fossils from Cameroon, West Africa. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 7(4):469–471.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flynn, J. J., Wyss, A. R., Croft, D. A., and Charrier, R. (2003). The Tinguiririca Fauna, Chile: Biochronology, paleoecology, biogeography, and a new earliest Oligocene South American Land Mammal Age. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 195(3/4):229–259.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foote, M., Hunter, J. P., Janis, C. M., and Sepkoski, J. J., Jr. (1999a). Evolutionary and preservational constraints on origins of biologic groups: Divergence times of eutherian mammals. Science 283:1310–1314.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Foote, M., Hunter, J. P., Janis, C. M., and Sepkoski, J. J., Jr. (1999b). Divergence times of eutherian mammals. Science 285:2031a.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forster, C. A. (1999). Gondwanan dinosaur evolution and biogeographic analysis. J. Afr. Earth Sci. 28:169–185.

    Google Scholar 

  • Forster, C. A., Chiappe, L. M., Krause, D. W., and Sampson, S. D. (1996). The first Cretaceous bird from Madagascar. Nature 382:532–534.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Forster, C. A., Sampson, S. D., Chiappe, L. M., and Krause, D. W. (1998). The theropod ancestry of birds: New evidence from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. Science 279(5358):1915–1919.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gaffney, E. S., and Forster, C. A. (2003). Side-necked turtle lower jaws (Podocnemididae, Bothremydidae) from the Late Cretaceous Maevarano Formation of Madagascar. Am. Mus. Nov. 3397:1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gingerich, P. D., Smith, B. H., and Simons, E. L. (1990). Hind limbs of Eocene Basilosaurus: evidence of feet in whales. Science 249:154–157.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Godinot, M. (1994). Early North African primates and their significance for the origin of Simiformes (=Anthropoidea). In: Fleagle, J. G. and Kay, R. F. (eds.), Anthropoid Origins. Plenum Press, New York, pp. 235–295.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gomani, E. M. (2005). Sauropod dinosaurs from the Early Cretaceous of Malawi, Africa. Palaeo. Electronica 8:1–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottfried, M. D., Rabarison, J. A., and Randriamiaramanana, L. L. (2001). Late Cretaceouselasmobranchs from the Mahajanga Basin of Madagascar. Cret. Res. 22:491–496.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottfried, M. D., O’Connor, P. M., Jackson, F. D., Roberts, E. M., and Chami, R. (2004). Dinosaur eggshell from the Red Sandstone Group of Tanzania. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 24(2):494–497.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottfried, M. D., O'Connor, P. M., Roberts, E. M., Stevens, N. J., and Chami, R. (2005). First Cretaceous lungfish from Tanzania: Ceratodontid from the Rukwa Rift Basin. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 25(suppl., 3):65A.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunnell, G. F., Jacobs, B. F., Herendeen, P. S., Head, J. J., Kowalski, E., Msuya, C., Mizambwa, F. A., Harrison, T., Habersetzer, J., and Storch, G. (2002). The earliest placental mammal from sub-Saharan Africa: Eocene microbat from Tanzania—Evidence for early evolution of sophisticated echolocation. Palaeo. Electronica 5(3):1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamrick, M. W., Meldrum, D. J., and Simons, E. L. (1995). Anthropoid phalanges from the Oligocene of Egypt. J. Hum. Evol. 28:121–145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrison, T., Msuya, C. P., Murray, A. M., Jacobs, B. F., Baez, A. M., Mundil, R., and Ludwig, K. R. (2001). Paleontological investigations at the Eocene locality of Mahenge in north-central Tanzania, East Africa. In: Gunnell, G. F. (ed.), Eocene Biodiversity: Unusual Occurrences and Rarely Sampled Habitats. Kluwer Academic/Plenum, New York, pp. 39–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hedges, S. B., Parker, P., Sibley, C., and Kumar, S. (1996). Continental breakup and the ordinal diversification of birds and mammals. Nature 381:226–229.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Heesy, C. P., Stevens, N. J., and Samonds, K. E. (2006). Biogeographic origins of primate higher taxa. In: Fleagle, J. G., and Lehman, S. (eds.), Primate Biogeography. Springer, New York, pp. 419–437.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holman, J. A., Stevens, N. J., O'Connor, P. M., Gottfried, M. D., and Roberts, E. M. (2004). An enigmatic neobatrachian frog from the Paleogene of Southwestern Tanzania. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 24(suppl., 3):71A.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holroyd, P. A. (1994). An examination of dispersal origins for Fayum Mammalia. Ph.D. dissertation, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 328 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holroyd, P. A. (1999). New Pterodontinae (Hyaenodontidae: Creodonta) from the late Eocene - early Oligocene Jebel Qatrani Formation, Fayum, Province, Egypt. PaleoBios 19: 1–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holroyd, P. A., and Parham, J. F. (2003). The antiquity of African tortoises. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 23(3):688–690.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holroyd, P. A., Simons, E. L., Bown, T. M., Polly, P. D., and Kraus, M. J. (1996). New records of terrestrial mammals from the Upper Eocene Qasr el Sagha Formation, Fayum Depression, Egypt. Palaeovertebrata 25(2–4):175–192.

    Google Scholar 

  • Humphries, C. J., and Ebach, M. C. (2004). Biogeography on a dynamic earth. In: Lomolino, M. V., and Heaney, L. R. (eds.), Frontiers of Biogeography. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, pp. 67–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, L. L., Kaufulu, Z. M., and Downs, W. R. (1990). The Dinosaur Beds of northern Malawi, Africa. Nat. Geo. Res. 6:196–204.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, L. L., Winkler, D. A., Downs, W. R., and Gomani, E. M. (1993). New material of an Early Cretaceous titanosaurid sauropod dinosaur from Malawi. Palaeontology 36(3):523–534.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ji, Q., Luo, Z.-X., Yuan, C.-X., Wible, J. R., Zhang, J.-P., and Georgi, J. A. (2002). The earliest known eutherian mammal. Nature 416:816–822.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kappelman, J., Rasmussen, D. T., Sanders, W. J., Feseha, M., Bown, T., Copeland, P., Crabaugh, J., Fleagle, J., Glantz, M., Gordon, A., Jacobs, B., Maga, M., Muldoon, K., Pan, A., Pyne, L., Richmond, B., Ryan, T., Seiffert, E., Sen, S., Todd, L., Wiemann, M., and Winkler, A. (2003). Oligocene mammals from Ethiopia and faunal exchange between Afro-Arabia and Eurasia. Nature 426:549–552.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kay, R. F., Williams, B. A., and Anaya, F. (2001). The adaptations of Branisella boliviana, the earliest South American Monkey. In: Plavcan, J. M., Kay, R. F., Jungers, W. L., and van Schaik, C. (eds.), Reconstructing Behavior in the Primate Fossil Record. Plenum Publishing Corporation, New York, pp 339–370.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kielan-Jaworowska, Z., R. L. Cifelli, and Z. -X. Luo. (2004). Mammals from the age of dinosaurs: origins, evolution, and structure. Columbia University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kilembe, E. A., and Rosendahl, B. R. (1992). Structure and stratigraphy of the Rukwa rift. Tectonophysics 209:143–158.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirk, E. C., and Simons, E. L. (2001). Diets of fossil primates from the Fayum Depression of Egypt: a quantitative analysis of molar shearing. J. Hum. Evol. 40:203–229.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Krause, D. W. (2001). Fossil molar from a Madagascan marsupial. Nature 412:497–498.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Krause, D. W. (2003a). Discovery of a relatively complete mammalian specimen from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 23(suppl., 3):69A.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krause, D. W. (2003b). Late Cretaceous vertebrates from Madagascar: A window into Gondwanan biogeography at the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. In: Goodman, S. M., and Benstead, J. P. (eds.), The Natural History of Madagascar. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 40–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krause, D. W., Prasad, G. V. R., von Koenigswald, W., Sahni, A., and Grine, F. E. (1997). Cosmopolitanism among Late Cretaceous Gondwanan mammals. Nature 390:504–507.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Krause, D. W., Rogers, R. R., Forster, C. A., Hartman, J. H., Buckley, G. A., and Sampson, S. D. (1999). The Late Cretaceous vertebrate fauna of Madagascar: Implications for Gondwanan paleobiogeography. GSA Today 9:1–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krause, D. W., Evans, S. E., and Gao, K. -Q. (2003a). First definitive record of Mesozoic lizards from Madagascar. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 23:842–856.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krause, D. W., Gottfried, M. D., O’Connor, P. M., and Roberts, E. M. (2003b). A Cretaceous mammal from Tanzania. Acta Palaeont. Pol. 48(3):321–330.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krause, D. W., O'Connor, P. M., Curry Rogers, K., Sampson, S. D., Buckley, G. A., and Rogers, R. R. (2006). Late Cretaceous terrestrial vertebrates from Madagascar: implications for Latin American Biogeography. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden93:178–208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lapparent, A. F. (1960). De les dinosariens du ‘Contienental intercalaire’ du Sahara central. Mem. Soc. Geol. France 88A:1–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lavocat, R. J. M. (1954). Sur les dinosauriens du continental intercalaire des Kem-Kem de la Doura. C.R. 19th Cong. Géol. Intern. 15:65–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leakey, M. G., Ungar, P. S., and Walker, A. (1995). A new genus of large primate from the Late Oligocene of Lothidok, Turkana District, Kenya. J. Hum. Evol. 28:519–531.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lieberman, B. S. (2000). Paleobiogeography: Using fossils to study global change, plate tectonics, and evolution. Kluwer Academic, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Madsen, O., Scally, M., Douady, C. J., Kao, D. J., DeBry, R. W., Adkins, R., Amrine, H. M., Stanhope, M. J., de Jong, W. W., and Springer, M. A. (2001). Parallel adaptive radiations in two major clades of placental mammals. Nature 409:610–614.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, R. D. (1993). Primate origins, plugging the gaps. Nature 363:223–234.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, R. D. (2000). Origins, diversity and relationships of lemurs. Int. J. Primatol. 21(6):1021–1049.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Masters, J. C., Stankiewicz, J., Thiart, C., and de Wit, M. J. (2006). How good is Simpson’s “sweepstakes” model in explaining the mammalian colonization of Madagascar? Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. Suppl.129(S42):127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matsumoto, H. (1921). Megalohyrax Andrews and Titanohyrax g.n.—A revision of the genera of hyracoids from the Fayum, Egypt. P. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1921:839–850.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meehl, P. E. (1983). Consistency tests in estimating the completeness of the fossil record: A neo-Popperian approach to statistical paleontology. Minn. Studies Phil. Sci. 40:135–139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, E. R. (1999). Faunal correlation of Wadi Moghara, Egypt: implications for the age of Prohylobates tandyi. J. Hum. Evol. 36:519–533.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, E. R., Gunnell, G. F., and Martin, R. D. (2005). Deep time and the search for anthropoid origins. Yrbk. Phys. Anthropol. 48:60–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Molnar, R. E. (1980). Australian late Mesozoic terrestrial tetrapods: some implications. Mem. Soc. Geol. France 139:131–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morley, C. K., Cunningham, S. M., Harper, R. M., and Westcott, W. A. (1999). Geology and geophysics of the Rukwa Rift, East Africa. Tectonics 11:69–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy, W. J., Eizirik, E., O’Brien, S. J., Madsen, O., Scally, M., Douady, C. J., Teeling, E., Ryder, O. A., Stanhope, M. J., de Jong, W. W., and Springer, M. S. (2001). Resolution of the early placental mammal radiation using Bayesian phylogenetics. Science 294:2348–2351.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Murray, A. M., and Attia, Y. S. (2004). A new species of Lates (Teleostei: Perciformes) from the Lower Oligocene of Egypt. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 24(2):299–308.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor, P. M. (2007). The postcranial axial skeleton of Majungatholus atopus (Theropoda: Abelisauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. J. Vert. Paleo.27:127–162.

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Connor, P. M., and Claessens, L. P. A. M. (2005). Basic avian pulmonary design and flow through ventilation in non-avian theropod dinosaurs. Nature 436:253–256.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor, P. M., Gottfried, M. D., Roberts, E. M., Stevens, N. J., Jackson, F. D., and Rasmusson, E. L. (2003). Closing the ‘African Gap’ – a new Cretaceous vertebrate fauna from Tanzania. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 23(suppl., 3):84A.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor, P. M., Gottfried, M. D., Stevens, N. J., Roberts, E. M., Ngasala, S., Kapilima, S., and Chami, R. (2006). A new vertebrate fauna from the Cretaceous Red Sandstone Group, Rukwa Rift Basin, southwestern Tanzania. J. Afr. Earth Sci. 44:277–288.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osborn, H. F. (1908). New fossil mammals from the Fayum Oligocene, Egypt, B. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 24:265–272.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paul, C. R. C. (1998). Adequacy, completeness and the fossil record. In: Donovan, S. K., and Paul, C. R. C. (eds.), The adequacy of the fossil record. John Wiley and Sons, New York, pp 1–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickford, M. (1986). Première découverte d’une faune mammalienne terrestre paléogène d’Afrique sub-saharienne. C. R. Acad. Sci. II 302(19):1205–1210.

    Google Scholar 

  • Poux, C., Madsen, O, Marquard, E., Vieites, D. R., de Jong, W. W., and Vences, M. (2005). Asynchronous colonization of Madagascar by the four endemic clades of primates, tenrecs, carnivores, and rodents. Syst. Biol. 54(5):719–730.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Prasad, G. V. R. and M. Godinot. (1994). Eutherian tarsal bones from the Late Cretaceous of India. J. Palaeontol. 68:892–902.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prasad, G. V. R., and A. Sahni. (1988). First Cretaceous mammal from India. Nature 332: 638–640.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prasad, V., C. A. E. Stromberg, H. Alimohammadian, and A. Sahni. (2005). Dinosaur coprolites and the early evolution of grasses and grazers. Science 310:1177–1180.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Quenell, A. M., Mcinley, A. C. M., and Aitken, W. G. (1956). Summary of the geology of Tanganyika: Geol. Surv. Tanganyika Mem. 1956:1–264.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rana, R. S., Singh, H., Sahni, A., Rose, K. D., and Saraswati, P. K. (2005). Early Eocene chiropterans from a new mammalian assemblage (Vastan Lignite Mine, Gujarat, Western Peninsular Margin): oldest known bats from Asia. J. Palaeontol. Soc. India 50(1):93–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen, D. T. and Simons, E. L. (2000). Ecomorphological diversity among Paleogene hyracoids (Mammalia): a new cursorial browser from the Fayum, Egypt. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 20(1):167–176.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen, D. T., Conroy, G. C., and Simons, E. L. (1998). Tarsier-like locomotor specializations in the Oligocene primate Afrotarsius. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 95:14848–14850.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen, D. T., Simons, E. L., Hertel, F., and Judd, A. (2001). Hindlimb of a giant terrestrial bird from the upper Eocene, Fayum, Egypt. Palaeontology 44:325–337.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen, D. T., Tshakreen, S. O., Abugares, M., and Smith, J. B. (2008). Return to Dor al-Talha: Paleontological Reconaissance of the Early Tertiary of Libya. In: Fleagle, J. G. and Gilbert, C. C. (eds.), Elywn Simons: A Search for Origins. Springer, New York, pp 181–196.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rich, T. H., Molnar, R. E., and Vickers-Rich, P. (1983). Fossil vertebrates from the Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous Kirkwood Formation, Algoa Basin, Southern Africa. Trans. Geol. Soc. S. Afr. 86:281–291.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rich, T. H., Vickers-Rich, P., and Flannery, T. F. (1999). Divergence times of eutherian mammals. Science 285:2031A.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, E. M., O’Connor, P. M., Gottfried, M. D., Stevens, N. J., Kapilima, S., and Ngasala, S. (2004). Revised stratigraphy and age of the Red Sandstone Group in the Rukwa Rift Basin, Tanzania. Cret. Res. 25:749–759.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, R. R. (2005). Fine-grained debris flows and extraordinary vertebrate burials in the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar. Geology 33:297–300.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, R. R., Hartman, J. H., and Krause, D. W. (2000). Stratigraphic analysis of Upper Cretaceous rocks in the Mahajanga Basin, northwestern Madagascar: Implications for ancient and modern faunas. J. Geol. 108:275–301.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, R. R., Krause, D. W., and Curry Rogers, K. (2003). Cannibalism in the Madagascan dinosaur Majungatholus atopus. Nature 422:515–518.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rose, K. D., and Archibald, J. D. (2004). The rise of placental mammals. The Johns Hopkins, University Press, Baltimore.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, S. D., Witmer, L. M., Forster, C. A., Krause, D. W., O’Connor, P. M., Dodson, P., and Ravoavy, F. (1998). Predatory dinosaur remains from Madagascar: Implications for the Cretaceous biogeography of Gondwana. Science 280:1048–1051.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schrago, C. G., and Russo, C. A. M. (2003). Timing the origin of New World monkeys. Mol. Biol. Evol. 20(10):1620–1625.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Scotese, C. R. (2001). Atlas of Earth History. PALEOMAP project, Arlington, Texas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seiffert, E. R., and Simons, E. L. (2000). Widanelfarasia, a diminutive placental from the late Eocene of Egypt. P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97(6):2646–2651.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Seiffert, E. R., Simons, E. L., and Attia, Y. (2003). Fossil evidence for an ancient divergence of lorises and galagos. Nature 422:421–424.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Seiffert, E. R., Simons, E. L., and Fleagle, J. G. (2000). Anthropoid humeri from the late Eocene of Egypt. P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97:10062–10067.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Seiffert, E. R., Simons, E. L., Ryan, T. M., and Attia, Y. (2005). Additional remains of Wadilemur elegans, a primitive stem galagid from the late Eocene of Egypt. P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 102:11396–11401.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sereno, P. C. (1999). The evolution of dinosaurs. Science 284:2137–2147.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sereno, P. C., Dutheil, D. B., Larochene, M., Larsson, H. C. E., Lyon, G. H., Magwene, P. M., Sidor, C. A., Varricchio, D. J., and Wilson, J. A. (1996). Predatory dinosaurs from the Sahara and Late Cretaceous faunal differentiation. Science 272: 986–991.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sereno, P. C., Wilson, J. A., and Conrad, J. L. (2004). New dinosaurs link southern landmasses in the mid-Cretaceous. P. Roy. Soc. Lond. B. Biol. 271:1325–1330.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sigogneau-Russell, D., Evans, S. E., Levine, J. F., and Russell, D. A. (1998). The Early Cretaceous microvertebrate locality of Anoual, Morocco: a glimpse at the small vertebrate assemblage of Africa. In: Lucas, S. J., Kirkland, J. I., and Estep, J. W. (eds.), Lower and Middle Cretaceous Terrestrial Ecosystems. Bull. New Mexico Mus. Nat. Hist., Bulletin 14: pp. 177–182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simons, E. L. (1997). Discovery of the smallest Fayum Egyptian primates (Anchomomyini, Adapidae). P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 94:180–184.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Simons, E. L. (1998). The prosimian fauna of the Fayum Eocene/Oligocene deposits of Egypt. Folia Primatol. 69:286–294.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simons, E. L., and Bown, T. M. (1984). A new species of Peratherium (Didelphidae; Polyprotodonta): the first African marsupial. J. Mammal. 65(4):539–548.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simons, E. L., and Bown, T. M. (1995). Ptolemaiida, a new order of Mammalia—with description of the cranium of Ptolemaia grangeri. P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 92:3269–3273.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Simons, E. L., and Rasmussen, D. T. (1995). A whole new world of ancestors: Eocene anthropoideans from Africa. Evol. Anthropol. 3:128–139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simons, E. L., Holroyd, P. A., and Bown, T. M. (1991). Early tertiary elephant-shrews from Egypt and the origin of the Macroscelidea. P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:9734–9737.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Simons, E. L., Rasmussen, D. T., Bown, T. M., and Chatrath, P. S. (1994). The Eocene origin of anthropoid primates: adaptation, evolution, and diversity. In: Fleagle, J. G., and Kay, R. F., (eds.), Anthropoid Origins. Plenum Press: New York, pp. 179–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A. B., and Peterson, K. J. (2002). Dating the time of origin of major clades: molecularclocks and the fossil record. Annu. Rev. Earth. Pl. Sc. 30:65–88.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A. G., Smith, D. G., and Funnell, B. M. (1994). Atlas of Mesozoic and Cenozoic Coastlines. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J. B., Lamanna, M. C., Lacovara, K. J., Dodson, P. D., Smith, J. R., Poole, J. C., Giegengack, R., and Attia, Y. (2001). A giant sauropod dinosaur from an Upper Cretaceous mangrove deposit in Egypt. Science 292:1704–1706.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Springer, M. S. (1997). Molecular clocks and the timing of the placental and marsupial radiations in relation to the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary. J. Mammal. Evol. 4: 285–302.

    Google Scholar 

  • Springer, M. S., Cleven, G. C., Madsen, O., de Jong, W. W., Waddell, V. G., Amrine, H. M., and Stanhope, M. J. (1997). Endemic African mammals shake the phylogenetic tree. Nature 388:61–64.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Springer, M. S., Murphy, W. J., Eizirik, E., and O’Brien, S. J. (2003). Placental mammal diversification and the Cretceous-Tertiary boundary. P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100(3):1056–1061.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Springer, M. S., Stanhope, M. J., Madsen, O., and De Jong, W. W. (2004). Molecules consolidate the placental mammal tree. Trends Ecol. Evol. 19(8):430–438.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Springer, M. S., Murphy, W. J., Eizirik, E., and O’Brien, S. J. (2005). Molecular evidence for major placental clades. In: Rose, K. D. and Archibald, J. D.(eds.), The rise of placental mammals. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, pp. 37–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stanhope, M. J., Waddell, V. G., Madsen, O., de Jong, W. W., Hedges, S. B., Cleven, G. C., Kao, D., and Springer, M. S. (1998). Molecular evidence for multiple origins of Insectivora and for a new order of endemic African insectivore mammals. P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95:9967–9972.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stevens, N. J., and Heesy, C. P. (2004). Reliability of biogeographic reconstructions for determining the area of origin of primate higher taxa. Intl. Primate Cong. (suppl., 1):118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevens, N. J., and Heesy, C. P. (2006). Malagasy primate origins: Fossils, phylogenies and biogeographic reconstructions. Folia Primatol 77:419–433.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stevens, N. J., Gottfried, M. D., O’Connor, P. M., Roberts, E. M., and Kapilima, S. D. (2004). A new Paleogene fauna from the East African Rift, southwestern Tanzania. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 24(suppl., 3):118A.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevens, N. J., O’Connor, P. M., Gottfried, M. D., Roberts, E. M., Ngasala, S., and Kapilima, S. (2005a). New Paleogene mammals and other vertebrates from the Rukwa Rift Basin, southwestern Tanzania. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 25(suppl., 3):118A.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevens, N. J., O'Connor, P. M., Gottfried, M. D., Roberts E. M., and Ngasala, S. (2005b). An anthropoid primate humerus from the Rukwa Rift Basin, Paleogene of southwestern Tanzania. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 25(4):986–989.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevens, N. J., O'Connor, P. M., Gottfried, M. D., Roberts, E. M., Ngasala, S., and Dawson, M. (2006). Metaphiomys (Rodentia: Phiomyidae) from the Paleogene of southwestern Tanzania. J. Paleontol. 80(2):407–410.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tavare, S., Marshall, C. R., Will, O., Soligo, C., and Martin, R. D. (2002). Using the fossil record to estimate the age of the last common ancestor of extant primates. Nature 416:726–729.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thewissen, J. G. M., and Simons, E. L. (2001). Skull of Megalohyrax eocaenus (Hyracoidea, Mammalia) from the Oligocene of Egypt. J. Vertebr. Paleontol. 21(1):98–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Upchurch, P., Hunn, C. A., and Norman, D. B. (2002). An analysis of dinosaurian biogeography: Evidence for the existence of vicariance and dispersal patterns caused by geological events. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond., Ser. B 269:613–621.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Dijk, M. A. M., Madsen, O., Catzefils, F., Stanhope, M. J., de Jong, W. W., and Pagel, M. (2001). Protein sequence signatures support the African clade of mammals. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 98(1): 188–193.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vences, M., Freyhof, J., Sonnenberg, R., Kosuch, J., and Veith, M. (2001). Reconciling fossils and molecules: Cenozoic divergence of cichlid fishes and the biogeography of Madagascar. J. Biogeogr. 28:1091–1099.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wescott, W. A., Krebs, W. N., Engelhardt, D. W., and Cunningham, S. M. (1991). New biostratigraphic age dates from the Lake Rukwa rift basin in western Tanzania. AAPG Bull. 75(7):1255–1263.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler, W. H., and Karson, J. A. (1994). Extension and subsidence along a “weak” continental transform: An example from the Rukwa Rift, East Africa. Geology 22:625–628.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wing, S. L., Hickey, L. J., and Swisher, C. C. (1993). Implications of an exceptional fossil flora for Late Cretaceous vegetation. Nature 363, 342–344.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winkler, A. J. (1994). The middle/upper Miocene dispersal of major rodent groups between southern Asia and Africa. In: Tomida, Y., Li, C. K., Setoguchi, T. (eds.), Rodent and Lagomorph Families of Asian Origins and Diversification, No. 8. National Science Museum Monographs, Tokyo, pp. 173–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, A. E. (1968). The African Oligocene Rodentia. Bull. PMNH 28:23–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yoder, A. D., Burns, M. M., Zehr, S., Delfosse, T., Veron, G., Goodman, S. M., and Flynn, J. J. (2003). Single origin of Malagasy Carnivora from an African ancestor. Nature 421: 734–737.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Ohio University, 228 Irvine Hall, Athens, OH 45701, USA

    Nancy J. Stevens & Patrick M. O’Connor

Authors
  1. Nancy J. Stevens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael D. Gottfried
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Eric M. Roberts
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Saidi Kapilima
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Sifa Ngasala
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Patrick M. O’Connor
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomical Sciences Health Sciences Center, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-8081

    John G. Fleagle

  2. Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364

    Christopher C. Gilbert

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Stevens, N.J., Gottfried, M.D., Roberts, E.M., Kapilima, S., Ngasala, S., O’Connor, P.M. (2008). Paleontological Exploration in Africa. In: Fleagle, J.G., Gilbert, C.C. (eds) Elwyn Simons: A Search for Origins. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73896-3_12

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation