Older Ancestors: Primate origins age in new analysis
By Bruce Bower
The evolutionary roots of primates, the group of mammals that gave rise to humans, are murky. Paleontologists generally think that the first primates appeared about 65 million years ago, whereas genetic analyses of the DNA from living primates yield an estimate of 90 million years.
That DNA-derived number comes closer to the mark, according to a research team led by biologist Simon Tavaré of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Using a new statistical model of primate evolution, the scientists conclude that the oldest common ancestor of today’s primates lived approximately 81.5 million years ago.