Pliobates

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Pliobates
Temporal occurrence
middle Miocene
11.6 million years
Locations
Systematics
Monkey (anthropoidea)
Old World Monkey (Catarrhini)
Human (Hominoidea)
Pliobatidae
Pliobates
Scientific name of the  family
Pliobatidae
Alba et al., 2015
Scientific name of the  genus
Pliobates
Alba et al., 2015
species
  • Pliobates cataloniae

Pliobates is an extinct genus of primates that was foundin Spain 11.6 million years ago during the Middle Miocene . The fossils of this genus were placed in 2015 by their discoverers in the vicinity of the last common ancestors of all species of humans (Hominoidea). The humans are a superfamily within the primates and include the (great) great apes and the gibbons (the so-called smallgreat apes ). The only species in the genus is Pliobates cataloniae . Only one find of this type is known to date.

Naming

Pliobates is a made-up word . The name of the genus is derived from the Latin plio (= large) and the Greek bates (= to walk around); it was formed as a combination of parts of the name of the older fossil genus Pliopithecus and the recent genus Hylobates (= small gibbons). The epithet of the only scientifically described species so far, Pliobates cataloniae , refers to the location of the site near the municipality of Els Hostalets de Pierola ( province of Barcelona ) in the Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia . Pliobates cataloniae consequently means "great Catalan wanderer".

Initial description

A partially preserved skeleton of an adult female individual consisting of 70 bones and bone fragments (archive number IPS 58443), which is kept in the Instituto de Paleontología Miquel Crusafont in Sabadell , was identified as the holotype of the genus and at the same time the type species Pliobates cataloniae in the first description . From this fossil, parts of the skull as well as the bones below the skull have been preserved, which were discovered lying close to each other and - due to the lack of bone duplication - belonged to a single individual. The diagnosis of female was based on the rather small canines . Among other things, large parts of the skull including toothed lateral fragments of the upper jaw , an edentulous fragment of the lower jaw , numerous bones of a left arm , parts of the right arm and some bones of a foot have been preserved .

The weight of a female Pliobates cataloniae was estimated on the basis of the bone finds at four to five kilograms, the volume of the brain was estimated at 69 to 75 cm³. Based on the preserved teeth, it was reconstructed that Pliobates cataloniae was predominantly a fruit eater , similar to the fossil species Anoiapithecus brevirostris and Hispanopithecus laietanus as well as the recent gibbons.

The phylogenetic position ascribed to the genus in the vicinity of the last common ancestors of all species of the human species (Hominoidea) was specified in so far as Pliobates is closer to the gibbons than the Proconsul genus , but at a greater distance from them than Hispanopithecus and Pierolapithecus .

Among other things, on the basis of biostratigraphic analyzes, Pliobates was dated to 11.6 million years ago.

Importance of the find

According to the current state of research, all monkeys living today have common ancestors in the late Oligocene / early Miocene , i.e. around 20 to 30 million years ago, when there was a great diversity of species among primates in Europe as well as in Asia and Africa. However, so far only a few fossils from this epoch are known, so that, among other things, the ancestors of the gibbons are difficult to determine. The anatomical features of Pliobates can now be interpreted to the effect that this genus forms an evolutionary bridge from the recent gibbons to the older African ape-like primates. This interpretation also means that the human species arose from relatively small-stature species of the Middle Miocene. However, in the first description , Pliobates was only interpreted as a possible sister group to the common ancestor of the human species and therefore - as the only genus so far - assigned to the newly named family Pliobatidae.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ David M. Alba et al .: Miocene small-bodied ape from Eurasia sheds light on hominoid evolution. In: Science . Volume 350, No. 6260 (aab2625, pp. 1–11), 2015, doi: 10.1126 / science.aab2625
  2. ↑ Iyad S. Zalmout et al .: New Oligocene primates from Saudi Arabia and the divergence of apes and Old World monkeys. In: Nature . Volume 466, 2010, pp. 360-364, doi: 10.1038 / nature09094
  3. ^ Brenda R. Benefit and Monte L. McCrossin: A window into ape evolution. In: Nature. Volume 350, No. 6260, pp. 515-516, 2015, doi: 10.1126 / science.aad0677
  4. ^ A new primate species at the root of the tree of extant hominoids. On: eurekalert.org of October 29, 2015
  5. ↑ Mother of all apes — including humans — may have been surprisingly small. On: sciencemag.org of October 29, 2015