| 释义 |
preˈprimate
[pre- B. 1.]
An evolutionary ancestor of the primates, or an animal showing characteristics that are more highly developed in the primates.
1931E. A. Hooton Up from Ape ii. 67 Our arboreal pre-primate ancestors must have been very closely similar to the existing tree shrews of the Order Insectivora. Ibid. 69 When the insectivorous pre-primate became a hand⁓feeder and a manipulator of objects, it opened up for its descendants a new route of evolutionary progress. 1971G. H. Bourne Ape People xiii. 322 The slope of the jaw seemed to be more like that of a modern preprimate known as the tarsier. |