David Tab Rasmussen

 

RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS BY TOPIC

1-     Primate Origins

2-     Eocene of North America

3-     Evolution of African Prosimians

4-     Anthropoid and Catarrhine Origins

5-     Evolution of the Order Hyracoidea

6-     African Mammal Faunas  

7-     Fossil Birds   

8-     Primate Life History and Behavior

 

1- Primate Origins

 

Rasmussen, D.T. (1990) Primate origins: lessons from a Neotropical marsupial. American Journal of Primatology 22: 263-277. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T.  (2001).  Primate origins. In: Hartwig, W.C. (editor) The Primate Fossil Record, Cambridge University Press, London, pp. 5-10. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T. & Sussman, R.W. (in review)  Parallelisms among primates and possums. In: Ravosa, M. & Dagosto, M. (editors) The Origin of Primates, pp. 000-000. 

 

2- Eocene of North America

 

Rasmussen, D.T. (1990) The phylogenetic position of Mahgarita stevensi: protoanthropoid or lemuroid?  International Journal of Primatology 11: 437-467. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T.; Shekelle, M.; Walsh, S.L. & Riney, B.O. (1995) The dentition of Dyseolemur, and comments on the use of the anterior teeth in primate systematics.  Journal of Human Evolution 29: 301-320. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T. (1996).  A new Middle Eocene omomyine primate from the Uinta Basin, Utah. Journal of Human Evolution 31: 75-87. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T., Conroy, G.C., Friscia, A.R., Townsend, K.E., & Kinkel, M.D. (1999) Mammals of the Middle Eocene Uinta Formation. In: Gillette, D. (ed.) Vertebrate Paleontology of  Utah, Utah State Geological Survey, pp. 401-420.     

 

Rasmussen, D.T., Hamblin, A.H. & Tabrum, A.R. (1999). The mammals of the Duchesne River Formation. In: Gillette, D. (ed.) Vertebrate Paleontology of Utah, Utah State Geological Survey, pp. 421-427.   

 

Thornton, M.L. & Rasmussen, D.T. (2001). Taphonomic interpretation of Gnat-Out-Of-Hell, an early Uintan small mammal locality in the Uinta Formation, Utah. In: Gunnell, G. F. (editor) Eocene Biodiversity: Unusual Occurrences and Poorly Sampled Habitats, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, pp. 299-316.

 

3- Evolution of African Prosimians  

 

Simons, E.L.; Bown, T.M. & Rasmussen, D.T. (1987)  Discovery of two additional prosimian primate families (Omomyidae, Lorisidae) in the African Oligocene. Journal of Human Evolution 15: 431-437. 

 

Simons, E.L. & Rasmussen, D.T. (1994)  A remarkable cranium of Plesiopithecus teras (Primates, Prosimii) from the Eocene of Egypt. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 91: 9946-9950. 

 

Simons, E.L.; Rasmussen, D.T. & Gingerich, P.D. (1995)  New cercamoniine adapid from Fayum, Egypt. Journal of Human Evolution 29:577-589

 

Rasmussen, D.T. & Nekaris, K.A. (1998). The evolutionary history of lorisiform primates. In: Harcourt, C.S.; Crompton, R.H. & Feistner, A.T.C. (eds.) Biology and Conservation of Prosimians. Folia Primatologica 69, supplement 1: 250-285.   

 

Rasmussen, D.T.; Conroy, G.C. & Simons, E.L. (1998) Tarsier-like locomotor specializations in the Oligocene primate Afrotarsius.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 95: 14848-14850. 

 

4- Anthropoid and Catarrhine Origins

 

Rasmussen, D.T. (1986)  Anthropoid origins: A possible solution to the Adapidae-Omomyidae paradox.  Journal of Human Evolution 15: 1- 12. 

 

Simons, E.L.; Rasmussen, D.T. & Gebo, D.L. (1987)  A new species of Propliopithecus from the Fayum, Egypt.  American Journal of Physical Anthropology 73: 139-147.

 

Rasmussen, D.T. & Simons, E.L. (1988) New specimens of Oligopithecus savagei, early Oligocene primate from the Fayum, Egypt.  Folia Primatologica 51: 182-208. 

 

Simons, E.L. & Rasmussen, D.T. (1989) Cranial morphology Tarsius and Aegyptopithecus and the question of the tarsier-anthropoidean clade.  American Journal of Physical Anthropology 79: 1-23. 

 

Simons, E.L. & Rasmussen, D.T. (1991) The generic allocation of Fayum Anthropoidea.  International Journal of Primatology 12: 163-178. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T. & Simons, E.L. (1992) Paleobiology of the oligopithecines, the world's earliest anthropoid primates. International Journal of Primatology 13: 477-508.

 

Rasmussen, D.T. (1994) The different meanings of a tarsioid-anthropoid clade and a new model of anthropoid origin. In: Fleagle, J.G. & Kay, R.F. (eds.) Anthropoid Origins. Plenum Press, NY, pp. 335-360. 

 

Simons, E.L.; Rasmussen, D.T. Bown, T.M. & Chatrath, P.S. (1994)  The Eocene origin of anthropoid primates: adaptation, evolution, and diversity.  In: Fleagle, J.G. & Kay, R.F. (eds.) Anthropoid Origins. Plenum Press, NY, pp. 179-201. 

 

Gebo, D.L.; Simons, E.L.; Rasmussen, D.T. & Dagosto, M. (1994) Eocene anthropoid postcrania from the Fayum, Egypt. In: Fleagle, J.G. & Kay, R.F. (eds.) Anthropoid Origins. Plenum Press, NY, pp. 203-233. 

 

Simons, E.L. & Rasmussen, D.T. (1995)  A whole new world of ancestors: Eocene anthropoideans from Africa.  Evolutionary Anthropology 3: 128-139. 

 

Simons, E.L. & Rasmussen, D.T. (1996).  The skull of Catopithecus browni, an early Tertiary catarrhine. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 100:  261-292. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T.  (2001).  Early catarrhines of the African Eocene and Oligocene. In: Hartwig, W.C. (editor) The Primate Fossil Record, Cambridge University Press, London, pp. 203-220.

 

5- Evolution of the Order Hyracoidea

 

Rasmussen, D.T. & Simons, E.L. (1988) New Oligocene hyracoids from Egypt.  Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 8: 67-83.  

 

Rasmussen, D.T. (1989) The evolution of the Hyracoidea: a review of the fossil evidence.  In: Prothero, D.R. & Schoch, R.M. (eds.) The Evolution of Perissodactyls. Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 57-78. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T., Gagnon, M. & Simons, E.L. (1990) Taxeopody in the carpus and tarsus of Oligocene Pliohyracidae (Mammalia: Hyracoidea) and the phyletic position of hyraxes.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 87: 4788-4691.  

 

Rasmussen, D.T. & Simons, E.L. (1991) The oldest Egyptian hyracoids (Mammalia: Pliohyracidae): New species of Saghatherium and Thyrohyrax from the Fayum.  Neues Jahrbuch fur Geologie und Palaontologie, Abhandlungen" (Stuttgart) 182:187-209. 

 

Schwartz, G.T.; Rasmussen, D.T. & Smith, R.J. (1995)  Body size diversity and community structure of fossil hyracoids. Journal of Mammalogy 76: 1088-1099. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T.; Pickford, M.; Mein, P.; Senut, B. & Conroy, G.C. (1996)  Earliest known procaviid hyracoid from the Upper Miocene of Namibia. Journal of Mammalogy 77: 745-754. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T. & Simons, E.L. (2000).  Ecomorphological diversity among Paleogene hyracoids (Mammalia): A new cursorial browser from the Fayum, Egypt. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20(1): 167-176. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T. (2000) Hyraxes. In: Singer, R. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Paleontology, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. 

 

6- African Mammal Faunas   

 

Gebo, D.L. & Rasmussen, D.T. (1985)  The earliest fossil pangolin (Pholidota: Manidae) from Africa. Journal of Mammalogy 66: 538-541. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T., Tilden, C.D. & Simons, E.L. (1989) New specimens of the gigantic creodont, Megistotherium, from Moghara, Egypt. Journal of Mammalogy 70: 442-447.

 

Simons, E.L. & Rasmussen, D.T. (1990)  Vertebrate paleontology of Fayum: History of research, faunal review and future prospects. In: Said, R. (ed.) The Geology of Egypt. A. A. Balkema Publishers, Rotterdam, pp. 627-638. 

 

Fleagle, J.G.; Rasmussen, D.T.; Yirga, S.; Bown, T.M. & Grine, F.E. (1991) New hominid fossils from Fejej, southern Ethiopia. Journal of Human Evolution 21:145-152. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T.; Bown, T.M. & Simons, E.L. (1992) The Eocene-Oligocene transition in continental Africa.  In: Prothero, D.R & Berggren, W.A. (eds.)  Eocene-Oligocene Climatic and Biotic Evolution, Princeton University Press, pp. 548-566. 

 

Fleagle, J.G.; Bown, T.M. & Rasmussen, D.T. (1992)  Fejej, southern Ethiopia. National Geographic Research and Exploration 8(1): 119-120. 

 

Fleagle, J.G.; Yirga, S.; Bown, T.M.; Rasmussen, D.T., Assefa, Z.; Hagos, T. & Negash, A. (1994)  New paleontological discoveries from Fejej, southern Omo, Ethiopia.  Proceedings of the XIth International Congress of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa. 

 

7- Fossil Birds  

 

Olson, S.L. & Rasmussen, D.T. (1986)  Paleoenvironment of the earliest anthropoids: new evidence from the Oligocene avifauna of  Egypt. Science 233: 1202-1204.

 

Rasmussen, D.T.; Olson, S.L. & Simons, E.L. (1987)  Fossil birds from the Oligocene Jebel Qatrani Formation, Fayum Province, Egypt.  Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 62: 1-20. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T. & Kay, R.F. (1992) A Miocene anhinga from Colombia, and comments on the zoogeographic relationships of South America's Tertiary avifauna. In: Campbell, K.E. (ed.) Papers in Avian Paleontology Honoring Pierce Brodkorb.  Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Science Series 36: 225-230. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T. (1997)  Birds. In: Kay, R.F.; Madden, R.H.; Cifelli, R.L. & Flynn, J.J., eds. Vertebrate Paleontology in the Neotropics: the Miocene Fauna of La Venta, Colombia. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., pp. 171-183. 

 

Miller, E.R.; Rasmussen, D.T. and Simons, E.L. (1998) Fossil storks (Ciconiidae) from the Late Eocene and Early Miocene of Egypt. Ostrich 68: 23-26.   

 

Rasmussen, D.T.; Simons, E.L.; Hertel, F. & Judd, A. (2001) Hindlimb of a giant terrestrial bird from the Upper Eocene, Fayum, Egypt. Palaeontology 44: 325-337. 

 

8- Primate Life History and Behavior

 

Kay, R.F.; Rasmussen, D.T. & Beard, K.C. (1984)  Cementum counts provide a means for age determination in Macaca mulatta (Primates, Anthropoidea). Folia Primatologica  42:85-95.

 

Izard, M.K. & Rasmussen, D.T. (1985)  Reproduction in the slender loris, Loris tardigradus malabaricus.  American Journal of  Primatology 8: 153-165. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T. (1985)  A comparative study of breeding seasonality and litter size in eleven taxa of captive lemurs (Lemur and Varecia).  International Journal of Primatology 6: 501-517. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T. (1986)  Life History and Behavior of Slow Lorises and Slender Lorises: Implications for the Lorisine-Galagine Divergence.  Ph.D. dissertation, Duke University. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T. & Izard, M.K. (1988)  Scaling of growth and life-history traits relative to body size, brain size, and rate in lorises and galagos (Lorisidae, Primates). American Journal of Physical Anthropology 75: 357-367. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T. & Tan, C.L. (1992) The allometry of behavioral development: fitting sigmoid curves to ontogenetic data for use in interspecific allometric analyses. Journal of Human Evolution 23: 159-181.

 

Nekaris, K. A. I., & Rasmussen, D. T. (in press). The diet and feeding behavior of the Mysore slender loris (Loris tardigradus lydekkerianus). International Journal of Primatology.

 

EDITED BOOK

 

Rasmussen, D.T., editor (1993)  The Origin and Evolution of Humans and Humanness. Jones & Bartlett Publishers, Boston. 

 

SELECTED ESSAYS AND REVIEWS  

 

Rasmussen, D.T. (1992)  The mystery of Zebulon Pike's "parakeet" solved. Archives of Natural History 19: 117-120. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T. (1994)  Book review: Milestones in Human Evolution.  International Journal of Primatology 15: 791-794. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T. (1995) Book review: Early Pleistocene youth. Current Anthropology 36: 537-539.

 

Rasmussen, D.T. (1997)  African and Asian prosimian field studies. In: Spencer, F (ed.)  History of Physical Anthropology. Garland Publishing Company, New York, pp. 23-26. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T. (1997) Book review: "Creatures of the Dark: The Nocturnal Prosimians". American Scientist 85: 284. 

 

Rasmussen, D.T. & Rehg, J.A. (1999) The evolutionary context of human economics. Forum for Social Economics 29:1-15.   

 

Rasmussen, D.T. (2000) Hyracoidea. In: McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science & Technology: 2001.  McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York.