Lufengpithecus chiangmuanensis
| Lufengpithecus chiangmuanensis | ||||||||||||
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||||||
| Middle Miocene | ||||||||||||
| 12 to 11 million years | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Lufengpithecus chiangmuanensis | ||||||||||||
| Chaimanee et al. 2003 | ||||||||||||
Lufengpithecus chiangmuanensis is an extinct species of primates in the genus Lufengpithecus that was foundin Thailand during the Middle Miocene . In Chiang Muan basin discovered fossils that have been made to this genus, their discovery dated in 2003, initially based on biostratigraphic analyzes in the period before about 13.5 and 10 million years ago. As early as 2004, this time allocation was criticized by other authors and instead named a probable age of 12 to 11 million years.
The species of the genus Lufengpithecus are considered to be fossil relatives of the orangutans living today and are therefore classified in the subfamily of the Ponginae. The independence of the species Lufengpithecus chiangmuanensis is, however, controversial; it was suggested to interpret the northern Thai finds as a local variant of the species Lufengpithecus keiyuanensis . Before these Thai fossils were discovered, Lufengpithecus was only known to have been found in Yunnan Province in the People's Republic of China .
Naming
Lufengpithecus is a portmanteau formed from the name of the circle Lufeng in the Autonomous County, Chuxiong Yi in the Chinese province of Yunnan and from the Greek word πίθηκος ( ancient Greek spoken píthēkos : "Monkey"); the epithet chiangmuanensis refers to the place where the fossils were found, the Chiang Muan basin in northern Thailand. The name of the species means "Lufeng monkey from Chiang Muan".
Initial description
As holotype were in the first description by Yaowalak Chaimanee et al. seven teeth identified (archive number TF 6171-1 to TF 6171-7), which are kept in the Department of Mineral Resources in Bangkok ; the first description was based on a further 12 teeth that were added to the holotype as paratypes and had also been recovered in the area of the Ban Sa site (paleocoordinates: 17.6 ° N, 99.9 ° E).
According to the authors of the first description, the teeth show a “striking resemblance to the orangutans living today ”. From this they conclude that lufengpithecus "is a more likely candidate for an ancestor of apes to represent", as Sivapithecus . It is also mentioned that the teeth show a clear resemblance to the fossils known as Lufengpithecus keiyuanensis from Kaiyuan (People's Republic of China) and that the relatively large animals had a pronounced sexual dimorphism .
The authors also emphasize that Lufengpithecus colonized the same area as the later orangutans known from the Pleistocene . Furthermore, the fossil-proven plants from the find layer of Lufengpithecus chiangmuanensis show a "surprising" great similarity with the flora of Africa; it shows "the existence of a temporary corridor for plants and animals between Southeast Asia and Africa during the Middle Miocene, which could have played a decisive role in the spread of the human species ."
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Yaowalak Chaimanee et al: A Middle Miocene hominoid from Thailand and orangutan origins. In: Nature . Volume 422, 2003, pp. 61-65, doi : 10.1038 / nature01449
- ↑ a b 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
- ↑ Ban Sa in the Paleobiology Database