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Oldest evidence for grooming claws in euprimates.

Doug M Boyer1, Stephanie A Maiolino2, Patricia A Holroyd3

  • 1Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, P. O. Box 90383, Biological Sciences Building, 130 Science Drive, Durham, NC 27708, USA.

Journal of Human Evolution
|June 25, 2018
PubMed
Summary

Ancestral primates likely evolved grooming claws from primitive claws, not flat nails. This study clarifies the evolutionary transition of primate digits, suggesting grooming claws were lost in later anthropoids.

Keywords:
ArchicebusEoceneEvolutionary developmentExaptationOmomyiformStrepsirrhini

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Area of Science:

  • Paleontology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Primate Evolution

Background:

  • Euprimates are unique among mammals for having flat nails on their digits.
  • The evolutionary transition from claws to nails in early primates is poorly understood due to limited fossil evidence.
  • The second pedal digit (dpII) in extant primates exhibits varied keratinized structures, including grooming claws in strepsirrhines and tarsiers, and typical nails in anthropoids.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the evolutionary history of the primate second pedal digit (dpII) and the transition from claws to nails.
  • To clarify the ancestral condition of euprimate digits using fossil evidence.
  • To determine when grooming claws evolved and were subsequently lost in primate evolution.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of seven recently discovered fossil distal phalanges from early Eocene North American localities.
  • Morphological comparison of fossil specimens with pedal dpII of extant prosimians and anthropoids.
  • Phylogenetic analysis incorporating fossil data to infer ancestral states.

Main Results:

  • Fossil phalanges from five genera of early haplorhine primates (∼56 Ma) were identified, resembling the grooming claws of extant prosimians.
  • These fossils provide direct evidence for the presence of grooming claws in early haplorhines.
  • The findings suggest that ancestral euprimates possessed grooming claws derived from primitive claws.

Conclusions:

  • Ancestral euprimates are strongly inferred to have had grooming claws, modified from primitive claws.
  • The evolution of flat nails in anthropoids involved the loss of these grooming claws, representing an apomorphy for crown anthropoids.
  • This study enhances our understanding of primate digit evolution and the transition from claws to nails.