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Chaimanee Y, Chavasseau O, Lazzari V, Soe AN, Sein C, Jaeger JJ. Early anthropoid primates: New data and new questions. Evol Anthropol 2024; 33:e22022. [PMID: 38270328 DOI: 10.1002/evan.22022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2023] [Revised: 11/29/2023] [Accepted: 01/11/2024] [Indexed: 01/26/2024]
Abstract
Although the evolutionary history of anthropoid primates (monkeys, apes, and humans) appears relatively well-documented, there is limited data available regarding their origins and early evolution. We review and discuss here the earliest records of anthropoid primates from Asia, Africa, and South America. New fossils provide strong support for the Asian origin of anthropoid primates. However, the earliest recorded anthropoids from Africa and South America are still subject to debate, and the early evolution and dispersal of platyrhines to South America remain unclear. Because of the rarity and incomplete nature of many stem anthropoid taxa, establishing the phylogenetic relationships among the earliest anthropoids remains challenging. Nonetheless, by examining evidence from anthropoids and other mammalian groups, we demonstrate that several dispersal events occurred between South Asia and Afro-Arabia during the middle Eocene to the early Oligocene. It is possible that a microplate situated in the middle of the Neotethys Ocean significantly reduced the distance of overseas dispersal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaowalak Chaimanee
- Laboratory PALEVOPRIM, UMR 7262 CNRS, University of Poitiers, Poitiers, France
| | - Olivier Chavasseau
- Laboratory PALEVOPRIM, UMR 7262 CNRS, University of Poitiers, Poitiers, France
| | - Vincent Lazzari
- Laboratory PALEVOPRIM, UMR 7262 CNRS, University of Poitiers, Poitiers, France
| | - Aung N Soe
- University of Distance Education, Mandalay, Myanmar
| | - Chit Sein
- University of Distance Education, Yangon, Myanmar
| | - Jean-Jacques Jaeger
- Laboratory PALEVOPRIM, UMR 7262 CNRS, University of Poitiers, Poitiers, France
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Cano-Fernández H, Gómez-Robles A. Assessing complexity in hominid dental evolution: Fractal analysis of great ape and human molars. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2020; 174:352-362. [PMID: 33242355 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2020] [Revised: 10/18/2020] [Accepted: 11/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Molar crenulation is defined as the accessory pattern of grooves that appears on the occlusal surface of many mammalian molars. Although frequently used in the characterization of species, this trait is often assessed qualitatively, which poses unavoidable subjective biases. The objective of this study is to quantitatively test the variability in the expression of molar crenulation in primates and its association with molar size and diet. METHODS The variability in the expression of molar crenulation in hominids (human, chimpanzee, gorilla, and orangutan) was assessed with fractal analysis using photographs of first, second and third upper and lower molars. After this, representative values for 29 primate species were used to evaluate the correlation between molar complexity, molar size, and diet using a phylogenetic generalized least squares regression. RESULTS Results show that there are statistically significant differences in fractal dimensions across hominid species in all molars, with orangutan molars presenting higher values of occlusal complexity. Our results indicate that there is no significant association between molar complexity and molar size or diet. DISCUSSION Our results show higher levels of occlusal complexity in orangutans, thus supporting previously published observations. Our analyses, however, do not indicate a clear association between molar complexity and molar size or diet, pointing to other factors as the major drivers of complexity. To our knowledge, our study is the first one to use fractal analysis to measure occlusal complexity in primates. Our results show that this approach is a rapid and cost-effective way to measure molar complexity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hugo Cano-Fernández
- Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.,Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Aida Gómez-Robles
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, UK.,Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, UK.,Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum of London, London, UK
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Jaeger JJ, Sein C, Gebo DL, Chaimanee Y, Nyein MT, Oo TZ, Aung MM, Suraprasit K, Rugbumrung M, Lazzari V, Soe AN, Chavasseau O. Amphipithecine primates are stem anthropoids: cranial and postcranial evidence. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20202129. [PMID: 33171091 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.2129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Since their discovery in 1927, the phylogenetic status of the Myanmar amphipithecines has been highly debated. These fossil primates are recognized either as anthropoids or as adapiform strepsirrhines. This uncertainty was largely the consequence of a limited fossil record consisting mostly of jaw fragments but lacking the critical cranial elements that might resolve this debate. We report here cranial remains associated with an ulna from a single individual pertaining to the amphipithecine Ganlea megacanina. In addition to anthropoid-like dentognathic characters, Ganlea displays several ulna and skull features that testify to its anthropoid affinities (e.g. short subvertically oriented lacrimal duct, lacrimal foramen and bone inside the orbit, maxillary contribution to the lower orbital rim, fused metopic suture). By contrast to crown anthropoids, however, Ganlea lacks postorbital closure, confirming that postorbital closure appeared later than many anthropoid dentognathic characters and evolved convergently in extant tarsiers and anthropoids. Thus, amphipithecines must now be recognized as stem anthropoids offering a unique window on the early evolution of cranial and skeletal features in anthropoids, and reinforcing the hypothesis of an origin and early diversification of anthropoids in Asia.
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Affiliation(s)
- J-J Jaeger
- Laboratory PALEVOPRIM, UMR CNRS 7262, University of Poitiers, 6 Rue Michel Brunet, 86073 Poitiers Cedex 9, France
| | - C Sein
- Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Naypyitaw 15011, Myanmar
| | - D L Gebo
- Department of Anthropology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115, USA
| | - Y Chaimanee
- Laboratory PALEVOPRIM, UMR CNRS 7262, University of Poitiers, 6 Rue Michel Brunet, 86073 Poitiers Cedex 9, France
| | - M T Nyein
- Department of Underwater Archaeology, Field School of Archaeology, Pyay Township, Bago Region, Myanmar
| | - T Z Oo
- Department of Geology, East Yangon University, Thanlyin Township, Yangon, Myanmar
| | - M M Aung
- Department of Geology, East Yangon University, Thanlyin Township, Yangon, Myanmar
| | - K Suraprasit
- Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
| | - M Rugbumrung
- Department of Mineral Resources, Rama VI Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
| | - V Lazzari
- Laboratory PALEVOPRIM, UMR CNRS 7262, University of Poitiers, 6 Rue Michel Brunet, 86073 Poitiers Cedex 9, France
| | - A N Soe
- University of Distance Education, Mandalay 05023, Myanmar
| | - O Chavasseau
- Laboratory PALEVOPRIM, UMR CNRS 7262, University of Poitiers, 6 Rue Michel Brunet, 86073 Poitiers Cedex 9, France
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Jaeger JJ, Chavasseau O, Lazzari V, Naing Soe A, Sein C, Le Maître A, Shwe H, Chaimanee Y. New Eocene primate from Myanmar shares dental characters with African Eocene crown anthropoids. Nat Commun 2019; 10:3531. [PMID: 31388005 PMCID: PMC6684601 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11295-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2018] [Accepted: 07/02/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent discoveries of older and phylogenetically more primitive basal anthropoids in China and Myanmar, the eosimiiforms, support the hypothesis that Asia was the place of origins of anthropoids, rather than Africa. Similar taxa of eosimiiforms have been discovered in the late middle Eocene of Myanmar and North Africa, reflecting a colonization event that occurred during the middle Eocene. However, these eosimiiforms were probably not the closest ancestors of the African crown anthropoids. Here we describe a new primate from the middle Eocene of Myanmar that documents a new clade of Asian anthropoids. It possesses several dental characters found only among the African crown anthropoids and their nearest relatives, indicating that several of these characters have appeared within Asian clades before being recorded in Africa. This reinforces the hypothesis that the African colonization of anthropoids was the result of several dispersal events, and that it involved more derived taxa than eosimiiforms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean-Jacques Jaeger
- Laboratory PALEVOPRIM, UMR CNRS 7262, University of Poitiers, 6 rue Michel Brunet Cedex 9, 86073, Poitiers, France.
| | - Olivier Chavasseau
- Laboratory PALEVOPRIM, UMR CNRS 7262, University of Poitiers, 6 rue Michel Brunet Cedex 9, 86073, Poitiers, France
| | - Vincent Lazzari
- Laboratory PALEVOPRIM, UMR CNRS 7262, University of Poitiers, 6 rue Michel Brunet Cedex 9, 86073, Poitiers, France
| | - Aung Naing Soe
- University of Distance Education, Mandalay, 05023, Myanmar
| | - Chit Sein
- Ministry of Education, Department of Higher Education, Naypyitaw, 15011, Myanmar
| | - Anne Le Maître
- Laboratory PALEVOPRIM, UMR CNRS 7262, University of Poitiers, 6 rue Michel Brunet Cedex 9, 86073, Poitiers, France.,Department of Theoretical Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Hla Shwe
- Department of Archaeology and National Museum, Mandalay Branch, Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture, Mandalay, 05011, Myanmar
| | - Yaowalak Chaimanee
- Laboratory PALEVOPRIM, UMR CNRS 7262, University of Poitiers, 6 rue Michel Brunet Cedex 9, 86073, Poitiers, France
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Abstract
Anthropoid primates other than humans show a conspicuously disjunct geographic distribution today, inhabiting mostly tropical and subtropical parts of Asia, Africa, and Central and South America. During the latter part of the Eocene, early anthropoids showed a similarly disjunct distribution, although South America and Africa were both island continents then. Attempts to explain the historical biogeography of anthropoids as resulting from vicariance caused by tectonic rifting between South America and Africa conflict with both the chronology and the topology of anthropoid evolution. The only viable hypotheses that remain entail sweepstakes dispersal across marine barriers by early monkeys on natural rafts. Early anthropoids and certain Asian rodent clades seem to have been especially adept at accomplishing sweepstakes dispersal, particularly during the Eocene, although this process has classically been envisioned as highly random and extremely rare. This article identifies and discusses biological and geological factors that make sweepstakes dispersal by certain taxa at given times far less random than previously conceived.
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Affiliation(s)
- K. Christopher Beard
- Biodiversity Institute and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045
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Marivaux L, Essid EM, Marzougui W, Khayati Ammar H, Adnet S, Marandat B, Merzeraud G, Ramdarshan A, Tabuce R, Vianey-Liaud M, Yans J. A morphological intermediate between eosimiiform and simiiform primates from the late middle Eocene of Tunisia: Macroevolutionary and paleobiogeographic implications of early anthropoids. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2014; 154:387-401. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22523] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2014] [Accepted: 04/18/2014] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Laurent Marivaux
- Laboratoire de Paléontologie; Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution de Montpellier (ISE-M, UMR 5554, CNRS, UM2, IRD), c.c. 064, Université Montpellier 2; F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 05 France
| | - El Mabrouk Essid
- Office National des Mines (ONM); Tunis BP: 215 - 1080 Tunis Tunisia
| | - Wissem Marzougui
- Office National des Mines (ONM); Tunis BP: 215 - 1080 Tunis Tunisia
| | | | - Sylvain Adnet
- Laboratoire de Paléontologie; Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution de Montpellier (ISE-M, UMR 5554, CNRS, UM2, IRD), c.c. 064, Université Montpellier 2; F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 05 France
| | - Bernard Marandat
- Laboratoire de Paléontologie; Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution de Montpellier (ISE-M, UMR 5554, CNRS, UM2, IRD), c.c. 064, Université Montpellier 2; F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 05 France
| | - Gilles Merzeraud
- Géosciences Montpellier (UMR-CNRS 5243); c.c. 060, Université Montpellier 2; F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 05 France
| | - Anusha Ramdarshan
- Laboratoire de Paléontologie; Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution de Montpellier (ISE-M, UMR 5554, CNRS, UM2, IRD), c.c. 064, Université Montpellier 2; F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 05 France
| | - Rodolphe Tabuce
- Laboratoire de Paléontologie; Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution de Montpellier (ISE-M, UMR 5554, CNRS, UM2, IRD), c.c. 064, Université Montpellier 2; F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 05 France
| | - Monique Vianey-Liaud
- Laboratoire de Paléontologie; Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution de Montpellier (ISE-M, UMR 5554, CNRS, UM2, IRD), c.c. 064, Université Montpellier 2; F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 05 France
| | - Johan Yans
- Department of Geology; University of Namur; NaGRIDD B-5000 Namur Belgium
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Chaimanee Y, Chavasseau O, Lazzari V, Euriat A, Jaeger JJ. A new Late Eocene primate from the Krabi Basin (Thailand) and the diversity of Palaeogene anthropoids in southeast Asia. Proc Biol Sci 2013; 280:20132268. [PMID: 24089342 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2013.2268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
According to the most recent discoveries from the Middle Eocene of Myanmar and China, anthropoid primates originated in Asia rather than in Africa, as was previously considered. But the Asian Palaeogene anthropoid community remains poorly known and inadequately sampled, being represented only from China, Myanmar, Pakistan and Thailand. Asian Eocene anthropoids can be divided into two distinct groups, the stem group eosimiiforms and the possible crown group amphipithecids, but the phylogenetic relationships between these two groups are not well understood. Therefore, it is critical to understand their evolutionary history and relationships by finding additional fossil taxa. Here, we describe a new small-sized fossil anthropoid primate from the Late Eocene Krabi locality in Thailand, Krabia minuta, which shares several derived characters with the amphipithecids. It displays several unique dental characters, such as extreme bunodonty and reduced trigon surface area, that have never been observed in other Eocene Asian anthropoids. These features indicate that morphological adaptations were more diversified among amphipithecids than was previously expected, and raises the problem of the phylogenetic relations between the crown anthropoids and their stem group eosimiiforms, on one side, and the modern anthropoids, on the other side.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaowalak Chaimanee
- IPHEP: Institut de Paléoprimatologie, Paléontologie Humaine : Évolution et Paléoenvironnements, CNRS UMR 7262, Université de Poitiers, , 6 rue Michel Brunet, 86022 Poitiers cedex, France
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