Primate origins, human origins, and the end of higher taxa

2012/11/01 by Matt Cartmill · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Primate Behavior and Ecology

paper · doi:10.1002/evan.21324

openalex publication_date 2012/11/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

When people learn that I study human evolution and we start talking about it, they sometimes ask me, "How long ago did the first humans live?" My answer is usually another question: "What do you mean by 'humans'?" That response seems as baffling and wrong-headed to them as their question seems to me, and it usually takes us a while to straighten things out. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Citations

• Punctuated equilibria: the tempo and mode of evolution reconsidered
• The ossified Meckel's cartilage and internal groove in Mesozoic mammaliaforms: implications to origin of the definitive mammalian middle ear
• The adaptive landscape as a conceptual bridge between micro- and macroevolution

Cited by

• Expression and Evolution of Short Wavelength Sensitive Opsins in Colugos: A Nocturnal Lineage That Informs Debate on Primate Origins
• From Australopithecus to Homo : the transition that wasn't <sup/>

Related

• Moving beyond the adaptationist paradigm for human evolution, and why it matters
• L’apport des études en histologie dentaire à la compréhension de l’évolution de l’homme
• New views on primate origins
• Primates (Lemurs, Lorises, Tarsiers, Monkeys and Apes)
• Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and speciation complexity in palaeoanthropology