Propliopithecus ankeli

Propliopithecus ankeli
Temporal occurrence
	Lower Oligocene
	approx. 34 million years
Locations
	Egypt ( Fayyum );
Systematics
	Monkey (anthropoidea)
	Old World Monkey (Catarrhini)
	Propliopithecoidea
	Propliopithecidae
	Propliopithecus
	Propliopithecus ankeli
Scientific name of the genus
	Propliopithecus
	Locksmith , 1911
Scientific name of the species
	Propliopithecus ankeli
	Simons , Rasmussen and Gebo , 1987

Propliopithecus ankeli is an extinct species of primates from the genus Propliopithecus , the more than 30 million year old remains of which were found exclusively in Fayyum in Egypt . Propliopithecus ankeli is one of the earliest known representative of the Old World monkeys , which today Cercopithecidae and apes belong. In addition to Propliopithecus ankeli , two other, somewhat younger species were assigned to the genus.

Naming

Propliopithecus is an artificial word . The name of the genus refers to the much younger fossil genus Pliopithecus and means "before Pliopithecus", where Plio refers to the geological epoch of the Pliocene , around 5 to 2.5 million years ago. The second half of the generic name is derived from the Greek word πίθηκος ( pronounced píthēkos in ancient Greek : "monkey"). The epithet ankeli honors Friderun Ankel-Simons "in recognition of her achievements in the field of primatology." In 1971, Friderun Ankel went to Duke University as a visiting scholar from Germany . She had been married to Elwyn L. Simons since 1972 and discovered the holotype of Propliopithecus ankeli .

Initial description

According to the first description published in 1987, the holotype of Propliopithecus ankeli is the left upper jaw fragment CGM 42847 with four preserved molars ( premolar 3 to molar 3). A lower jaw (DPC 5392) with preserved right and left canines , premolars and molars M1 to M3 was added as a paratype . Both fossils were found in Quarry V , Level 165 meters of the Jebel Qatrani Formation in Fayyum, Egypt. A basalt layer is superimposed on this formation , radiometrically dated to 31 ± 1 million years. Below the formation is bounded by an Eocene sea layer that is at least 40 million years old . In between, the dating of finds can only be estimated, which is why the first description of the species only indicated that the species Propliopithecus chirobates, also discovered in the Jebel Qatrani Formation , and the genus Aegyptopithecus were each assigned an age of around 34 to 28 million years that Propliopithecus ankeli comes from an area well below the other two finds. A detailed age was not given in the first description.

features

The lower jaw DPC 5392 is from a young individual whose permanent teeth already fully developed, but hardly in the chewing surfaces rubbed was. The type specimen comes from a somewhat larger adult whose teeth - especially the molars - are clearly worn.

Propliopithecus ankeli differs from the two somewhat younger species of the genus in its noticeably larger body size and the greater robustness of the jawbones. For example, the canines and the relatively wide P3 premolars are noticeably large. Numerous features of the dentition also distinguish the species from the genus Aegyptopithecus , but the individual whose lower jaw was identified as a paratype of Propliopithecus ankeli , according to its large canine teeth, should have been similar in size to a male Aegyptopithecus . The size of the upper jaw fragment also roughly corresponds to the dimensions of Aegyptopithecus .

Due to its robustness, the authors of the first description assume that Propliopithecus ankeli is the result of a special evolutionary adaptation that came about "against the trend" towards the reduction of the canine teeth in other early dry-nosed monkeys in particular . Therefore, the species is presumably not a direct ancestor of the other species of its genus and of Aegyptopithecus .

Individual evidence

^ David Tab Rasmussen : Early catarrhines of the African Eocene and Oligocene. In: Walter C. Hartwig (Ed.): The Primate Fossil Record. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (UK) 2002, p. 205, ISBN 0-521-66315-6
^ Elwyn L. Simons , David Tab Rasmussen, and Daniel L. Gebo : A new species of Propliopithecus from the Fayum, Egypt. In: American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Volume 73, No. 2, 1987, pp. 139-147, doi: 10.1002 / ajpa.1330730202

annotation

↑ The Pliopithecus fossils were initially erroneously dated to the Pliocene; in fact, they come from the Miocene and are almost three times as old as initially assumed.

[1] David Tab Rasmussen : Early catarrhines of the African Eocene and Oligocene. In: Walter C. Hartwig (Ed.): The Primate Fossil Record. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (UK) 2002, p. 205, ISBN 0-521-66315-6

[3] Elwyn L. Simons , David Tab Rasmussen, and Daniel L. Gebo : A new species of Propliopithecus from the Fayum, Egypt. In: American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Volume 73, No. 2, 1987, pp. 139-147, doi: 10.1002 / ajpa.1330730202

[2] The Pliopithecus fossils were initially erroneously dated to the Pliocene; in fact, they come from the Miocene and are almost three times as old as initially assumed.