Year: 2006
Type: article
Abstract: The advantages of cross-disciplinary collaboration are beautifully illustrated by this remarkable collection of papers from the 2005 meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists organized by Anne Burrows and Leanne Nash.It brought together an unusually wide range of specialists working on the nocturnal strepsirrhine primates of Africa and Asia (lorises and galagos), who realized, sometimes for the first time, just what their colleagues had really been doing.It is not at all surprising that an understanding of the diversity of nocturnal primates has remained as elusive as the animals themselves.The constraints of surviving and operating efficiently at night can result in a remarkable degree of superficial convergence (e.g., in body size and nocturnally adapted senses) that masks finer differences in detail that are crucial to unraveling their status as a species, their evolutionary relationships, and their remarkable array of niches.Hence the lorisoid primates have traditionally been divided into two groups: the slow-moving, quadrupedal lorises, and the active leaping and hopping galagos.Each group has a paucity of species, and apparently occupies vast geographic ranges in Africa and southeast Asia.Conversely, far greater numbers of the larger and more conspicuous species of diurnal monkeys and apes have been found in the same areas.But now that the lorisoid primates are receiving increasing attention, this perspective is shifting dramatically.Hidden species are being defined each year, supposedly slow-movers have been found to run (and very fast too!), and new measures of genetic affinity point to unexpected twists in phylogenetic history, often bringing more new questions than answers.The greatest stimulus for comparative studies is of course the existence of a good variety of forms to compare.When only a handful of living and fossil lorisoids were known, they attracted a correspondingly low level of attention, but those investigators who entered the field were richly rewarded.The number of extant galago species recognized has risen from six to over 20, and lorises are similarly on the increase.Parallel developments are taking place in recognizing the diversity of nocturnal lemurs and tarsiers.Only with the application of new techniques, such as those illustrated during this symposium, is it possible to grasp the extent to which early studies were grossly inaccurate and profoundly lacking in rigor.But perhaps this is understandable when you realize that it is possible to catch two galagos in the same trap on the same night, and examine them with one in either hand, and yet not realize that they are different species!It is far more likely, then, that their differences will be overlooked when they are reduced
Source: American Journal of Primatology
DOI: 10.1002/ajp.20332
Author: Simon K. Bearder
Institution: Oxford Brookes University
Language: English
Topic: Primate Behavior and Ecology
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4245608659