| adapids | Early (Eocene) primate family ancestral to lemurs and lorises.
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| arboreal theory | Theory that the primates evolved by adapting to life high up in the trees, where visual abilities would have been favored over the sense of smell, and grasping hands and feet would have been used for movement along branches.
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| dryopithecids | Zoological ape family living in Europe during the middle and late Miocene; probably includes the common ancestor of the lesser apes (gibbons and siamangs) and the great apes.
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| m.y.a. | Million years ago.
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| omomyids | Early (Eocene) primate family found in North America, Europe, and Asia; early omomyids may be ancestral to all anthropoids; later ones may be ancestral to tarsiers.
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| postcranium | The area behind or below the head; the skeleton.
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| Proconsul | Early Miocene genus of the pliopithecoid superfamily; the most abundant and successful anthropoids of the early Miocene; the last common ancestor shared by the Old World monkeys and the apes.
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| Sivapithecus | Widespread fossil group first found in Pakistan; includes specimens formerly called “Ramapithecus” and fossil apes from Turkey, China, and Kenya; early Sivapithecus may contain the common ancestor of the orangutan and the African apes; late Sivapithecus is now seen as ancestral to the modern orang.
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| visual predation theory | Theory that the primates evolved in lower branches and undergrowth by developing visual and tactile abilities to aid in hunting and snaring insects.
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