biology

Saimiri fieldsi

Saimiri fieldsi is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Saimiri fieldsi rather than just read about it. In short: Saimiri fieldsi is an extinct species of New World monkey in the genus Saimiri (squirrel monkeys) from the Middle Miocene (Laventan in the South American land mammal ages; 13.8 to 11.8 Ma). Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia.

Key takeaways

Saimiri fieldsi belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Saimiri fieldsi to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Saimiri fieldsi from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Saimiri fieldsi is an extinct species of New World monkey in the genus Saimiri (squirrel monkeys) from the Middle Miocene (Laventan in the South American land mammal ages; 13.8 to 11.8 Ma). Its remains have been found at the Konzentrat-Lagerstätte of La Venta in the Honda Group of Colombia.

Description More than 200 fossil specimens of Saimiri fieldsi, formerly described as Neosaimiri fieldsi, were recovered from the Middle Miocene Villavieja Formation, that has been dated to the Laventan, about 13 to 12 Ma, during fieldwork in 1989 and 1990. The holotype of Saimiri which was recovered in 1949, is an incomplete mandible and dentition, while later materials include not only lower but also upper dentition and deciduous teeth. The fossils were differentiated from Saimiri in the proportions of tooth series, with smaller incisors and larger molars; in the structure of the P4 hypocone; and in the morphology of M1-2, which shows strong polymorphism. Also the species has been described as more robust than the extant Saimiri. This led researchers to identify an independent genus, Neosaimiri, as a Middle Miocene ancestor of Saimiri. Laventiana annectens, which was recovered at the same location in 1988, has been concluded to be a junior synonym of Neosaimiri, placed later in the same genus as Saimiri annectens. The lower molars of the fossil Saimiri resemble those of Dolichocebus, from Argentina. An estimated body mass of 768 to 840 grams (1.693 to 1.852 lb) has been suggested for Saimiri fieldsi.

Evolution

The evolutionary split in New World monkeys between Cebus and Saimiri has been estimated at 16.7 Ma.

Habitat

The La Venta Lagerstätte of the Honda Group, and more precisely the "Monkey Beds", are the richest site for fossil primates in South America. It has been argued that the monkeys of the Honda Group were living in habitat that was in contact with the Amazon and Orinoco Basins, and that La Venta itself was probably seasonally dry forest. Other fossil New World primates uncovered from the same locality are Aotus dindensis, Cebupithecia, Mohanamico and Stirtonia tatacoensis.

See also

List of primates of Colombia Lagonimico

References

Bibliography Defler, Thomas (2004), Historia natural de los primates colombianos (PDF), Universidad Nacional de Colombia, pp. 1–613, retrieved 2017-09-24 Luchterhand, Kubet; Kay, Richard F.; Madden, Richard H. (1986), "Mohanamico hershkovitzi, gen. et sp. nov., un primate du Miocene moyen d' Amerique du Sud", Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences, 303: 1753–1758, retrieved 2017-09-24 Lynch Alfaro, Jessica W.; Cortés Ortiz, Liliana; Di Fiore, Anthony; Boubli, Jean P. (2015), "Special issue: Comparative biogeography of Neotropical primates" (PDF), Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 82: 518–529, Bibcode:2015MolPE..82..518L, doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.09.027, PMID 25451803, archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-04-18, retrieved 2017-09-24 Pérez, S. Iván; Tejedor, Marcelo F.; Novo, Nelson M.; Aristide, Leandro (2013), "Divergence Times and the Evolutionary Radiation of New World Monkeys (Platyrrhini, Primates): An Analysis of Fossil and Molecular Data", PLOS One, 8 (6): 1–16, Bibcode:2013PLoSO...868029P, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0068029, PMC 3694915, PMID 23826358 Rosenberger, Alfred L.; Hartwig, Walter Carl (2001), "New World Monkeys" (PDF), Encyclopedia of Life Sciences: 1–4, retrieved 2017-09-24 Rosenberger, A.L.; Hartwig, W.C.; Takai, M.; Setoguchi, T.; Shigehara, N. (1991), "Dental variability in Saimiri and the taxonomic status of Neosaimiri fieldsi, an early squirrel monkey from La Venta, Colombia" (PDF), International Journal of Primatology, 12 (3): 291–301, doi:10.1007/BF02547590, retrieved 2017-09-24 Setoguchi, Takeshi; Shigehara, Nobuo; Rosenberger, Alfred L.; Cadena G, Alberto (1986), "Primate fauna from the Miocene La Venta, in the Tatacoa Desert, Department of Huila, Colombia" (PDF), Caldasia, XV: 761–773, retrieved 2017-09-24 Setoguchi, Takeshi; Shigehara, Nobuo; Rosenberger, Alfred L.; Cadena G, Alberto (1986), "Primate fauna from the Miocene La Venta, in the Tatacoa Desert, Department of Huila, Colombia" (PDF), Caldasia, XV: 761–773, retrieved 2017-09-24 Silvestro, Daniele; Tejedor, Marcelo F.; Serrano-Serrano, Martha L.; Loiseau, Oriane; Rossier, Victor; Rolland, Jonathan; Zizka, Alexander; Höhna, Sebastian; Antonelli, Alexandre; Salamin, Nicolas (2019), "Early Arrival and Climatically-Linked Geographic Expansion of New World Monkeys from Tiny African Ancestors", Systematic Biology, 68: 78–92, bioRxiv 10.1101/178111, doi:10.1093/sysbio/syy046, PMC 6292484 Takai, Masanaru; Anaya, Federico; Suzuki, Hisashi; Shigehara, Nobuo; Setoguchi, Takeshi (2001), "A New Platyrrhine from the Middle Miocene of La Venta, Colombia, and the Phyletic Position of Callicebinae", Anthropological Science, Tokyo, 109 (4): 289–307, doi:10.1537/ase.109.289, retrieved 2017-09-24 Takai, Masanaru (1994), "New specimens of Neosaimiri fieldsi from La Venta, Colombia: a middle Miocene ancestor of the living squirrel monkeys", Journal of Human Evolution, 27 (4): 329–360, Bibcode:1994JHumE..27..329T, doi:10.1006/jhev.1994.1049 Tejedor, Marcelo F (2013), "Sistemática, evolución y paleobiogeografía de los primates Platyrrhini" (PDF), Revista del Museo de La Plata, 20: 20–39, archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-07-23, retrieved 2017-09-24 Wheeler, Brandon (2010), "Community ecology of the Middle Miocene primates of La Venta, Colombia: the relationship between ecological diversity, divergence time, and phylogenetic richness", Primates, 51 (2): 131–138, doi:10.1007/s10329-009-0181-y, PMID 20037832, retrieved 2017-09-24

Further reading Fleagle, John G.; Rosenberger, Alfred L. (2013), The Platyrrhine Fossil Record, Elsevier, pp. 1–256, ISBN 9781483267074, retrieved 2017-10-21 Hartwig, W.C.; Meldrum, D.J. (2002), The Primate Fossil Record - Miocene platyrrhines of the northern Neotropics, Cambridge University Press, pp. 175–188, ISBN 978-0-521-08141-2, retrieved 2017-09-24

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Saimiri fieldsi

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Saimiri fieldsi claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Saimiri fieldsi before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Saimiri fieldsi ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Saimiri fieldsi

In research: Saimiri fieldsi appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Saimiri fieldsi in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Saimiri fieldsi is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Fossil taxa described in 1951, Fossils of Colombia, Honda Group, Colombia, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Saimiri fieldsi outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Saimiri fieldsi in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Saimiri fieldsi means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Saimiri fieldsi in simple terms?

Why does Saimiri fieldsi matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Saimiri fieldsi?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Saimiri fieldsi.