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Rust K, Ni X, Tietjen K, Beard KC. Phylogeny and paleobiogeography of the enigmatic North American primate Ekgmowechashala illuminated by new fossils from Nebraska (USA) and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (China). J Hum Evol 2023; 185:103452. [PMID: 37935595 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2023.103452] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Revised: 09/25/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 11/09/2023]
Abstract
Ekgmowechashala is a poorly documented but very distinctive primate known only from the late early Oligocene (early Arikareean) of western North America. Because of its highly autapomorphous dentition and spatiotemporal isolation, the phylogenetic and biogeographic affinities of Ekgmowechashala have long been debated. Here, we describe the oldest known fossils of Ekgmowechashala from the Brown Siltstone Beds of the Brule Formation, White River Group of western Nebraska. We also describe a new ekgmowechashaline taxon from the Nadu Formation (late Eocene) in the Baise Basin of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that North American Ekgmowechashala and the new Chinese taxon are sister taxa that are nested within a radiation of southern Asian adapiforms that also includes Gatanthropus, Muangthanhinius, and Bugtilemur. The new Chinese ekgmowechashaline helps fill the considerable disparity in dental morphology between Ekgmowechashala and more primitive ekgmowechashalids known from southern Asia. Our study underscores the fundamental role of southern Asia as a refugium for multiple primate clades during the cooler and drier climatic regime that prevailed after the Eocene-Oligocene transition. The colonization of North America by Ekgmowechashala helps define the beginning of the Arikareean Land Mammal Age and corresponds to an example of the Lazarus effect, whereby a taxon (in this case, the order Primates) reappears suddenly in the fossil record after a lengthy hiatus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathleen Rust
- Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561, USA; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561, USA
| | - Xijun Ni
- Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate, Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, 142 Xi Zhi Men Wai Street, Beijing, 100044, China; College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, 100049, Beijing, China
| | - Kristen Tietjen
- Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561, USA
| | - K Christopher Beard
- Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561, USA; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561, USA.
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Gilbert CC, Ortiz A, Pugh KD, Campisano CJ, Patel BA, Singh NP, Fleagle JG, Patnaik R. New Middle Miocene Ape (Primates: Hylobatidae) from Ramnagar, India fills major gaps in the hominoid fossil record. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20201655. [PMID: 32900315 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1655] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The fossil record of 'lesser apes' (i.e. hylobatids = gibbons and siamangs) is virtually non-existent before the latest Miocene of East Asia. However, molecular data strongly and consistently suggest that hylobatids should be present by approximately 20 Ma; thus, there are large temporal, geographical, and morphological gaps between early fossil apes in Africa and the earliest fossil hylobatids in China. Here, we describe a new approximately 12.5-13.8 Ma fossil ape from the Lower Siwaliks of Ramnagar, India, that fills in these long-standing gaps with implications for hylobatid origins. This ape represents the first new hominoid species discovered at Ramnagar in nearly a century, the first new Siwalik ape taxon in more than 30 years, and likely extends the hylobatid fossil record by approximately 5 Myr, providing a minimum age for hylobatid dispersal coeval to that of great apes. The presence of crown hylobatid molar features in the new species indicates an adaptive shift to a more frugivorous diet during the Middle Miocene, consistent with other proposed adaptations to frugivory (e.g. uricase gene silencing) during this time period as well.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher C Gilbert
- Department of Anthropology, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA.,PhD Program in Anthropology, Graduate Center of the City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA.,New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY, USA.,Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY, 10024, USA
| | - Alejandra Ortiz
- Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA.,Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Kelsey D Pugh
- New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY, USA.,Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY, 10024, USA
| | - Christopher J Campisano
- Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.,School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Biren A Patel
- Department of Integrative Anatomical Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.,Human and Evolutionary Biology Section, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
| | | | - John G Fleagle
- Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA
| | - Rajeev Patnaik
- Department of Geology, Panjab University, Chandigarh 160 014, India
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A new primate from the late Eocene of Vietnam illuminates unexpected strepsirrhine diversity and evolution in Southeast Asia. Sci Rep 2019; 9:19983. [PMID: 31882616 PMCID: PMC6934687 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-56255-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2019] [Accepted: 12/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Sivaladapidae is a poorly known Asian strepsirrhine family originally discovered in Miocene sediments of the Indian subcontinent. Subsequent research has considerably increased the diversity, temporal range, and geographical distribution of this group, now documented from China, Thailand, Myanmar, Pakistan, and India and whose earliest representatives date back to the Middle Eocene. We present here a new taxon of sivaladapid from the Na Duong coal mine in the Latest Middle Eocene-Late Eocene of Vietnam. It represents the first Eocene primate from Vietnam and the first medium-sized mammal recovered from this locality, thus documenting a completely new part of the Na Duong paleobiodiversity. This taxon is the largest sivaladapid ever found with an estimated body weight of 5.3 kg and it represents a new subfamily of sivaladapids in exhibiting a very peculiar combination of dental features yet unknown in the fossil record of the family (e.g., retention of four premolars, high-crowned molars with accentuated bunodonty and extreme crest reduction). Besides documenting a complete new part of sivaladapid evolution, its primitive dental formula and derived features shared with the Early Eocene Asiadapidae reinforce the hypothesis of a basal branching of sivaladapids among strepsirrhines.
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Gilbert CC, Sehgal RK, Pugh KD, Campisano CJ, May E, Patel BA, Singh NP, Patnaik R. New Sivapithecus specimen from Ramnagar (Jammu and Kashmir), India and a taxonomic revision of Ramnagar hominoids. J Hum Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.102665] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Roos C, Kothe M, Alba DM, Delson E, Zinner D. The radiation of macaques out of Africa: Evidence from mitogenome divergence times and the fossil record. J Hum Evol 2019; 133:114-132. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.05.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2018] [Revised: 04/14/2019] [Accepted: 05/31/2019] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
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