Deck 19: Primate and Human Evolution

Question 1

The New World Monkeys evolved in Central and South America after those landmasses split from Africa.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Although Homo erectus migrated outside of Africa, some scientists believe that modern humans evolved in one African location, and then migrated from Africa.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The first hominins lived in the forests.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The field of hominid anthropology has been static for years, with few recent discoveries.

Question 5

The anthropoids appear in the fossil record by the late Eocene.

Question 6

Based on detailed fossil studies, it has been shown that the Neanderthals were smaller and lighter than modern humans.

Question 7

Most prosimians are nocturnal.

Question 8

All anthropoids have bipedal locomotion.

Question 9

Humans evolved from the dryopithecines.

Question 10

Bipedalism of early hominids probably developed as a response to changing climatic conditions that resulted in changes from forest to savanna.

Question 11

All paleontologists agree that Neanderthals are a subspecies of modern humans.

Question 12

Neanderthals are somewhat different than modern humans with the most obvious difference being their skull structure.

Question 13

Primates evolved from birds as indicated by their arboreal ancestry.

Question 14

Prosimian populations were greatly affected by the change from warm tropical to cooler mid-latitude climate in the early Cenozoic.

Question 15

Hominoids are a family of hominids.

Question 16

The earliest hominin fossil, Sahelanthropus tchadensis, is 7-million years old.

Question 17

The New World Monkeys differ from Old World Monkeys because the latter have prehensile tails.

Question 18

The Old World monkeys and the New World monkeys ultimately gave rise to the hominids.

Question 19

Australopithecus sediba is most likely the direct ancestor of Homo sapiens .

Question 20

Homo habilis likely evolved from an australopithecine ancestor.

Question 21

Any member of the primate suborder Anthropoidea, which includes New World and Old World monkeys, apes, and humans, is a(n) ____.

A) hominid
B) australopithecine
C) anthropoid
D) Neanderthal
E) Hominoid

Question 22

Which family includes bipedal primates such as Australopithecus and Homo ?

A) anthropoid
B) Cro-Magnon
C) hominidae
D) Neanderthal
E) hominoid

Question 23

Anthropoids evolved from ____ sometime during the Late Eocene.

A) prosimians
B) Homo habilis
C) Homo erectus
D) Neanderthals
E) Cro-Magnon

Question 24

Primates are difficult to characterize as an order because____.

A) they lack the strong specializations found in most other mammalian orders
B) they range in size from giant organisms to microscopic organisms
C) very few fossils have been found
D) species within this order breathe with both gills and lungs
E) they live in both the marine environment and the terrestrial environment

Question 25

Which type of human inhabited the Near East and Europe from 200,000 to 30,000 years ago and may have been a subspecies of Homo sapiens or a separate species?

A) Neanderthals
B) australopithecines
C) anthropoids
D) Cro-Magnon
E) primates

Question 26

Which evolutionary event happened first ?

A) The hominoids separated from anthropoids.
B) The Homo lineage evolved from australopithecines.
C) The hominids separated from lesser apes.
D) The Cro-Magnons diverged from Neanderthals.
E) The hominoids separated from the great apes.

Question 27

Prosimians are Old World monkeys.

Question 28

What is the species name for modern man?

A) Cro-Magnon
B) neanderthalensis
C) Homo sapiens
D) Homo habilis
E) Homo erectus

Question 29

Which race of Homo sapiens lived mostly in Europe from 35,000 to 10,000 years ago?

A) primates
B) Neanderthals
C) australopithecines
D) Homo erectus
E) Cro-Magnon

Question 30

While in South America, you discover a fossil with a prehensile tail and flat face. Which type of primate is this fossil most likely to be?

A) New World monkey
B) Ceropithecoidea
C) Old World monkey
D) prosimian
E) hominoid

Question 31

The order of mammals that includes prosimians (lemurs and tarsiers), monkeys, apes, and humans is ____.

A) Hominidae
B) Neanderthals
C) Australopithecus
D) primates
E) Hominoidea

Question 32

The earliest known hominid fossils are from rocks that are ____.

A) 1.5 million years old
B) 700,000 years old
C) 10,000 years old
D) 7 million years old
E) 4 million years old

Question 33

Hominids have existed on Earth longer than the dinosaurs did.

Question 34

The earliest fossils of the Homo species are 2.5-1.6 million years old.

Question 35

Which hypothesis proposes that early modern humans established separate populations throughout Eurasia, and had occasional interbreeding between populations?

A) tandem evolution hypothesis
B) out of Africa hypothesis
C) Eurasian origination hypothesis
D) multiregional hypothesis
E) migrational hypotheses

Question 36

Any of the so-called lower primates, including tree shrews, lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers are ____.

A) anthropoids
B) hominoids
C) australopithecines
D) hominids
E) prosimians

Question 37

Homo sapien s have inhabited Earth for fewer than 250,000 years.

Question 38

Which type of primate is a baboon?

A) Old World monkey
B) Ceboidea
C) New World monkey
D) hominoid
E) prosimian

Question 39

What has been the trend in human evolution since the appearance of the Cro-Magnons?

A) Several small subspecies have appeared, acclimated to mini-environments.
B) Evolution has proceeded slower than usual.
C) Evolution has become cultural rather than biological.
D) Peripheral speciation has resulted in the emergence of the Neanderthals.
E) Size of organisms has steadily decreased.

Question 40

Most human ancestors (ancestors of Homo) have become extinct.

Question 41

Conclusions about human evolution rely upon ____.

A) stratigraphic ranges of early hominids
B) pictograms and petroglyphs on cave walls
C) fossil evidence and DNA similarities
D) geographic ranges of early hominids
E) reproductive methods of early hominids

Question 42

Hominins originated in ____.

A) Africa
B) Australia
C) South America
D) China
E) North America

Question 43

The ____________________ represent the first artists in our human lineage.

Question 44

As continents moved northward, prosimians ____.

A) became omnivorous
B) increased in diversity
C) migrated southward to warmer climates
D) increased in abundance and diversity
E) became more abundant

Question 45

The first primates were ____.

A) New World Monkeys
B) anthropoids
C) Old World Monkeys
D) prosimians
E) hominids

Question 46

Present-day hominids arose from the ____________________ and ____________________ groups.

Question 47

Neanderthals differ from humans in that ____.

A) Neanderthals were not humans
B) Neanderthals did not have sophisticated tools
C) Neanderthals preferred a nomadic lifestyle
D) Neanderthals had larger brains
E) Neanderthals had smaller brains

Question 48

Small primates like lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, tree shrews that live in tropical regions are ____________________.

Question 49

Evidence that hominins were bipedal comes from fossil footprints in volcanic ash, discovered in Tanzania by ____________________ ____________________ in 1978.

Question 50

All australopithecines and Homo habilis are found only in ____________________.

Question 51

The earliest Homo species was ____.

A) Homo erectus
B) Homo sapiens
C) Ardi
D) Lucy
E) Homo habilis

Question 52

The earliest tool-maker in the human lineage was ____________________.

Question 53

Regardless of whether ____________________ are a separate species from Homo sapiens , their brains were slightly larger than those of modern humans.

Question 54

The genus ____________________ lived from 4 million-1 million years ago and coexisted with Homo for almost 1.5 million years.

Question 55

In addition to humans, the Homininae include what other two tribes?

A) New World monkeys and gorillas
B) New World monkey and chimpanzees
C) Old World monkeys and chimpanzees
D) Old and New World monkeys
E) chimpanzees and gorillas

Question 56

Humans are most closely related to ____.

A) Chimpanzees
B) New World monkeys
C) gorillas
D) prosimians
E) Old World monkeys

Question 57

Features of hominins, such as large brain size and bipedalism, developed in response to ____.

A) improved ability to hunt
B) cooling climate
C) increased predation
D) warming climate
E) an expanding habitat

Question 58

The three superfamilies of the ____________________ are Cercopithecoidea (or Old World monkeys), Ceboidea (or New World monkeys), Hominoidea (or hominoids).

Question 59

The Primate order is divided into two suborders: ____________________ and ____________________.

Question 60

How do hominins and hominoids differ?

A) Hominoids have larger brains.
B) Hominoids have smaller canine teeth.
C) Hominins have larger brains.
D) Hominoids are exclusively bipedal.
E) Hominins are bipedal and quadrupedal.

Question 61

Discuss the evolution of the hominids from the anthropoids.

Question 62

Describe and discuss the lifestyle of Cro-Magnons.

Question 63

Why is Australopithecus sediba an important fossil in the discussion of human evolution?

Question 64

How did the species of australopithecines differ? How were they similar?

Question 65

What is one key factor in the debate of whether Neanderthals are a separate species from modern humans or a subspecies?

Question 66

Contrast Old World monkeys with New World monkeys.

Question 67

The hominins are a tribe of the subfamily informally known as the hominids. What are the two other tribes of hominids, and what are five ways hominins differ from them?

Question 68

Discuss the human lineage.

Question 69

The Primates order is differentiated from other orders of mammals based on several characteristics. List four ways to distinguish primates from other mammals.

Question 70

Paleontologists and biologists often argue about how humans evolved. What is their argument about, and why does this dispute not undermine the scientific process?