Reports of the National Center for Science Education
Volume
23
No.
1
Review: The Primate Fossil Record
The Primate Fossil Record
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. 530 pages.
Reviewed by
W Eric Meikle, NCSE Outreach Coordinator
Those who are not primate paleontologists, however, probably are not aware how closely this pattern of increasing knowledge about our Pliocene and Pleistocene hominin relatives is paralleled by an increasingly rich fossil record for the entire Primate order, covering more than 50 million years. Essentially all fossil primate groups are much better known today than they were in 1960, or even in 1980. However, no comprehensive reference work on this topic has been published in recent years. This book fills that gap, and will serve as a starting point for professionals and advanced students for years to come. While technical, expensive, and not intended for beginners, it does contain numerous illustrations and extensive references to the primary scientific literature, as well as discussions of interpretations and implications of this wealth of primate fossils.
This version might differ slightly from the print publication.