Primate Adaptation and Evolution.

By John G. Fleagle 2nd edition (September 1998) Academic Press. $59.95 Hardcover - 528 pages ISBN: 0122603419 ;

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Book reviews can be tricky in a relatively small field, since the chances of knowing the author are particularly high. When the author is your former graduate advisor, it gets even trickier. But when the new second edition of John Fleagle's "Primate Adaptation and Evolution" came out, I knew I was going to have to navigate that difficult stretch of water.

Some words about the first edition probably are pertinent here. While few readers of this journal will have to be reminded about the content of that book, it is worth noting that it is an unusual volume. Because of its self-proclaimed suitability for students above the introductory level, it is not strictly comparable with other introductory biological anthropology texts. Nor is it a direct competitor for fossil oriented evolutionary anthropology texts, such as G. Conroy's 1990 "Primate Evolution" (Norton) or A. Bilsborough's 1992 "Human Evolution" (Blackie A & P), due to its extensive and comprehensive accounts of the adaptations of living primate taxa; the anatomical/palaeontological sections also set it apart from ethologically oriented primatology texts. It was intended to span the gap between fossil-only volumes and living primate/behaviour books, which it did both well and successfully, in terms of critical and popular acclaim. It also has served as an invaluable reference, as my extremely dog-eared and ragged copy demonstrates.

A second fact to note about the original edition, which remains unchanged in the new version, is its explicit use of an evolutionary systematic (or gradistic) classification. Students are often asking me why Fleagle uses the Prosimii/Anthropoidea division of the order Primates, rather than the Strepsirhini/Haplorhini division favoured by most cladists. The answer, of course, is in the title of the book. Fleagle is interested in primate "adaptation" first and foremost; a viewpoint that is reflected somewhat better by a gradistic classification. To his credit, his discussions of phylogeny favour cladistic analyses and, where there is disagreement, all major hypotheses are discussed.

The basic structure of the book has not changed from the first edition. It begins with short introductory sections on evolution, anatomy, and primatology (sensu lato), then proceeds through the living and fossil primates, with chapters on adaptation and paleontology in between. New to the second edition, however, is a chapter devoted to primate communities, immediately following those on living primate taxa. This is a major addition, as it summarizes some of the new work on the broader picture of primate geographical and ecological distributions. Although let down somewhat by some overly "computer-y" graphics at the end, this is one of the few discussions of higher-level primate patterns available to students and, as such, is well worth the separate treatment.

The other changes/additions are more subtle, but nonetheless telling. The chapter formerly known as "Archaic Primates" has mutated into "Primate Origins", reflecting the widespread recognition that plesiadapiforms are probably not primates sensu stricto. This chapter now includes a discussion of the wider relationships of primates to other mammals (members of the superorder Archonta), as well. Also, the section on primate life histories is significantly expanded to accommodate the masses of research published since the 1988 edition. There are a number of additions to the sections on extant primates, reflecting the increased knowledge gained through primate field research over the last ten years, including the rediscovery of Allocebus in the wild.

Most significantly, perhaps, are the numerous additions to the sections on fossil primates. Important new primate fossils have been discovered on all of the continents from which primates are known, and Fleagle incorporates a critical discussion of them all, often based on first-hand experience with the original specimens. The almost exponential increase in the number of fossil taxa over the last twenty years or so, and the shifting evolutionary interpretations of those animals (and those known earlier, as well), makes the primary argument for purchasing the new edition. His approach to new fossils and interpretations, as with the first edition, is well balanced between the radical and conservative. In places where no clear consensus has been reached, the alternative viewpoints are discussed rationally.

It is difficult for me to be completely objective about this volume; having said that, I can state that it has replaced the first edition as the most-consulted book on my shelves. As with the first edition, the pros outweigh the cons by a significant margin. While the lack of a comprehensive bibliography could be seen as a shortcoming, the separate, topical reference lists at the ends of the chapters are tremendously helpful to students and researchers alike. Although this textbook probably fits few courses/classes perfectly, it will serve many biological anthropology programmes well, and also will act as an excellent reference for later work. For professionals, the decision to upgrade to the latest version or not will depend on the balance between a) the need for the wide-ranging, updated material, and b) the cost. It should be noted, however, that the new version, although still in hard cover, is selling for £10 less than the original, increasing its already high value-for-money rating. More importantly, it is very few workers that are able to successfully communicate (from first hand experience) an up-to-date mix of functional and phylogenetic interpretations of all known primate species, living and fossil. For this reason alone, the second edition is probably worth the price of admission.