Primates (2003) 44:295–296 DOI 10.1007/s10329-003-0032-1

B OO K R E V I EW

Yutaka Kunimatsu

Walter C. Hartwig (ed): The Primate Fossil Record Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002

Published online: 9 April 2003 Ó Japan Monkey Centre and Springer-Verlag 2003

The title of this book is simple but clearly indicates its contents. The Primate Fossil Record covers a very wide range of primate fossils from the origin of primates to the Pleistocene fossil Homo, with a number of contributors in various fields of primate paleontology. More than two decades ago, two authors (Frederick S. Szalay and Eric Delson) published a now classic book titled The Evolutionary History of Primates (Academic Press, 1979). This book is a good reference work for the evolutionary studies based on primate fossils, and it has been widely used by paleoanthropologists, primatologists, paleontologists and evolutionary biologists all over the world. This book has not yet lost its value as a general reference to fossil primates. However, the continuous efforts by scientists over the world have added a number of new taxa, and new specimens and/or new interpretations of old taxa since the publication of The Evolutionary History of Primates. The progress in primate paleontology for more than two decades has necessitated a revision of the contents of Szalay and Delson’s book. Walter C. Hartwig, the editor of The Primate Fossil Record, has set out to provide an updated reference book for primate fossils, which includes various new information on primate paleontology accumulated during the last two decades. This book is in a sense an heir of The Evolutionary History of Primates. The latter was written by two authors and published in 1979. For The Primate Fossil Record published in 2002, Hartwig gathered 31 contributors, including himself. These contributors are scientists who have been working in the front line of various fields of primate paleontology. This difference may indicate that the world of primate paleontology has so expanded that it has become quite difficult, if not impossible, for only a few authors to cover the whole range of our knowledge. Let us be happy with the idea that we know much more than we did two Y. Kunimatsu Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan E-mail: [email protected]

decades ago, though the more we come to know, the more new questions we find. The book consists of 26 chapters. The first chapter is the introduction by the book’s editor. The second chapter by David T. Rasmussen is a short review on the origin of primates. The remaining 24 chapters are divided into five sections according to the combination of geological time, place and taxonomy. The first section is about the earliest true primates (that is, omomyoids and adapoids) and prosimians of modern aspects. The second section deals with anthropoid origins and platyrrhines. The third section covers the early catarrhines such as propliopithecoids from the African Late Eocene and Early Oligocene, and pliopithecoids from the Miocene of Eurasia, in addition to fossil cercopithecoids. The fourth section is devoted to the fossil records of hominoids. The fifth (and last) section includes fossils of our own group, hominids sensu stricto. Each section is comprised of four–six chapters which are generally arranged according to the geological time order within the group concerned. Most chapters are written in a basic format: Introduction, History of Discovery and Study, Taxonomy, Evolution. In Introduction and History of Discovery and Study, the style of writing varies among authors. Generally speaking, readers can obtain short general information on the group treated in the chapter in Introduction. In History of Discovery and Study, readers are provided with the information about when the fossils were found, who described the fossils, and who said what about the fossils. This information is often quite a helpful guide to understanding the fossils. Taxonomy gives the classification. Genera are arranged according to the taxonomic framework, and information such as included species, type species, type specimen, age and geographical range, and anatomical definition of each genus is provided. When the number of species included in the taxonomic group is small, the detailed information are also given at the specific level. There are plenty of photographs and drawings of primate fossils in each chapter. These visual data are useful. Sometimes, a photograph or drawing may tell us much more than a

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thousand words possibly could. In Evolution, interpretations of the fossils are discussed. The articles cited in this book are listed alphabetically by author in the references at the back of the book. In addition, at the end of each chapter, there is a part called Primary References, which lists articles describing new fossil material in chronological order under each genus . Primary References are useful

because it helps the reader to access easily the bibliographical information on the original descriptions of fossils, to which we often have to come back in the study of primate paleontology. In conclusion, The Primate Fossil Record is an updated, useful reference work for those who are interested in the evolution of primates from the paleontological perspective.