Khoratpithecus
| Khoratpithecus | ||||||||||||
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The holotype, a mandibular fragment from Khoratpithecus piriyai |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Late Miocene | ||||||||||||
| 9 to 7 million years | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Khoratpithecus | ||||||||||||
| Chaimanee , Suteethorn , Jintasakul , Vidthayanon , Marandat & Jaeger , 2004 | ||||||||||||
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Khoratpithecus is an extinct genus of primates that was foundin Asia around 9 to 7 million years ago during the late Miocene . The only widely recognized evidence of this genus is anincomplete lower jaw discoveredin northeast Thailand . Khoratpithecus is considered fossil relative of the living today orangutans and therefore is in the family of Ponginae classified.
Naming
Khoratpithecus is an artificial word . The name of the genus is derived from Khorat, an abbreviation for the Thai province of Nakhon Ratchasima and from the Greek word πίθηκος ( pronounced píthēkos in ancient Greek : "monkey"). The epithet of the only scientifically described species to date , Khoratpithecus piriyai , honors Piriya Vachajitpan, a Thai private collector of fossils who acquired the lower jaw and left it to specialist scientists for further analysis. Khoratpithecus piriyai thus means "piriyascher monkey of Khorat".
Initial description
As a holotype of the genus and at the same time the type Khoratpithecus piriyai , the only previously discovered lower jaw with preserved molars was identified in the first description . The lower jaw has the archive number RIN 765 (RIN = Rajabhat Institute, Nakhon Ratchasima ).
The lower jaw was discovered in 2002 by a worker in a sand pit in the Chalerm Prakieat district together with some fossil elephant teeth and sold by this worker to a private collector. Due to the size of the preserved teeth and the thickness of the tooth enamel , the fossil was delimited in the first description from the presumably closely related genera Lufengpithecus and Gigantopithecus . From the lack of an attachment point for the front part of the digastric muscle - which is also missing in the orangutans living today - it was concluded that Khoratpithecus piriyai is possibly more closely related to the orangutans of today than other fossil species from the same group of forms.
The finds that are also occasionally related to Khoratpithecus and named as Khoratpithecus chiangmuanensis are now assigned by various authors to the genus Lufengpithecus and in this part its species Lufengpithecus chiangmuanensis , and partly Lufengpithecus keiyuanensis .
Habitat
Based on fossil finds of other animal species, it was concluded that Khoratpithecus lived in a tropical forest area. It is possible that the individuals of the species - such as the orangutans and chimpanzees living today - mainly fed on fruits and other relatively soft foods.
Web links
- Fossil Jaw Grows Orangutan Family Tree, Scientists Say. On: nationalgeographic.com of January 28, 2004
Individual evidence
- ↑ Yaowalak Chaimanee, Varavudh Suteethorn, Pratueng Jintasakul, Chavalit Vidthayanon, Bernard Marandat and Jean-Jacques Jaeger: A new orang-utan relative from the Late Miocene of Thailand. In: Nature . Volume 427, 2004, pp. 439-441, doi : 10.1038 / nature02245
- ↑ Location: 15 degrees 01 '35 "N, 102 degrees 16' 50" O
- ↑ Martin Pickford et al .: Age and taxonomic status of the Chiang Muan (Thailand) hominoids. In: Comptes Rendus Palevol. Volume 3, No. 1, 2004, pp. 65-75, doi: 10.1016 / j.crpv.2003.09.029
- ↑ Entry on Khoratpithecus chiangmuanensis on paleodb.org
- ↑ Gildas Merceron et al .: Dietary characterization of the hominoid Khoratpithecus (Miocene of Thailand): evidence from dental topographic and microwear texture analyzes. In: Natural Sciences. Volume 93, No. 7, 2006, pp. 329-333, doi: 10.1007 / s00114-006-0107-0