1
|
Urciuoli A, Alba DM. Systematics of Miocene apes: State of the art of a neverending controversy. J Hum Evol 2023; 175:103309. [PMID: 36716680 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2022] [Revised: 12/08/2022] [Accepted: 12/09/2022] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Hominoids diverged from cercopithecoids during the Oligocene in Afro-Arabia, initially radiating in that continent and subsequently dispersing into Eurasia. From the Late Miocene onward, the geographic range of hominoids progressively shrank, except for hominins, which dispersed out of Africa during the Pleistocene. Although the overall picture of hominoid evolution is clear based on available fossil evidence, many uncertainties persist regarding the phylogeny and paleobiogeography of Miocene apes (nonhominin hominoids), owing to their sparse record, pervasive homoplasy, and the decimated current diversity of this group. We review Miocene ape systematics and evolution by focusing on the most parsimonious cladograms published during the last decade. First, we provide a historical account of the progress made in Miocene ape phylogeny and paleobiogeography, report an updated classification of Miocene apes, and provide a list of Miocene ape species-locality occurrences together with an analysis of their paleobiodiversity dynamics. Second, we discuss various critical issues of Miocene ape phylogeny and paleobiogeography (hylobatid and crown hominid origins, plus the relationships of Oreopithecus) in the light of the highly divergent results obtained from cladistic analyses of craniodental and postcranial characters separately. We conclude that cladistic efforts to disentangle Miocene ape phylogeny are potentially biased by a long-branch attraction problem caused by the numerous postcranial similarities shared between hylobatids and hominids-despite the increasingly held view that they are likely homoplastic to a large extent, as illustrated by Sivapithecus and Pierolapithecus-and further aggravated by abundant missing data owing to incomplete preservation. Finally, we argue that-besides the recovery of additional fossils, the retrieval of paleoproteomic data, and a better integration between cladistics and geometric morphometrics-Miocene ape phylogenetics should take advantage of total-evidence (tip-dating) Bayesian methods of phylogenetic inference combining morphologic, molecular, and chronostratigraphic data. This would hopefully help ascertain whether hylobatid divergence was more basal than currently supported.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Urciuoli
- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain; Division of Palaeoanthropology, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici ICTA-ICP, c/ Columnes s/n, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
| | - David M Alba
- Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici ICTA-ICP, c/ Columnes s/n, Campus de la UAB, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Foecke KK, Hammond AS, Kelley J. Portable x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy geochemical sourcing of Miocene primate fossils from Kenya. J Hum Evol 2022; 170:103234. [PMID: 36001899 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2021] [Revised: 06/30/2022] [Accepted: 07/01/2022] [Indexed: 10/15/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the biogeography and evolution of Miocene catarrhines relies on accurate specimen provenience. It has long been speculated that some catarrhine specimens among the early collections from Miocene sites in Kenya have incorrect provenience data. The provenience of one of these, the holotype of Equatorius africanus (NHM M16649), was previously revised based on x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Here we use nondestructive portable x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to test the provenience of additional catarrhine specimens that, based hat two specimens purportedly from the Early Miocene site of Rusinga (KNM-RU 1681 and KNM-RU 1999) are instead from Maboko, three specimens purportedly from the Middle Miocene site of Fort Ternan (KNM-FT 8, KNM-FT 41, and KNM-FT 3318) are instead from Songhor, and one specimen accessioned as being from Songhor (KNM-SO 5352) is from that site. Elemental data reveal that two of the specimens (KNM-FT 3318 and KNM-RU 1681) are likely to have been collected at sites other than their museum-accessioned provenience, while two others (KNM-RU 1999, and KNM-FT 41) were confirmed to have correct provenience. Results for both KNM-FT 8 and KNM-SO 5352, while somewhat equivocal, are best interpreted as supporting their accessioned provenience. Our results have implications for the distribution of certain catarrhine species during the Miocene in Kenya. Confirmation of the provenience of the specimens also facilitates taxonomic attribution, and resulted in additions to the morphological characterizations of some species. The protocol presented here has potential for wider application to assessing questions of provenience for fossils from other locations and periods.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kimberly K Foecke
- Center for Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
| | - Ashley S Hammond
- Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA; New York Consortium of Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP), New York, NY, USA
| | - Jay Kelley
- Institute of Human Origins and School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA; Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Locke EM, Benefit BR, Kimock CM, Miller ER, Nengo I. New dentognathic fossils of Noropithecus bulukensis (Primates, Victoriapithecidae) from the late Early Miocene of Buluk, Kenya. J Hum Evol 2020; 148:102886. [PMID: 33031954 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2020] [Revised: 08/28/2020] [Accepted: 08/28/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
The late Early Miocene site of Buluk, Kenya, has yielded fossil remains of several catarrhine primates, including 16 dentognathic specimens of the stem cercopithecoid Noropithecus bulukensis. With the exception of the large sample of Victoriapithecus macinnesi from the middle Miocene of Maboko Island, Kenya, the majority of stem cercopithecoid taxa are represented by small sample sizes. We describe and analyze 91 new cercopithecoid fossils collected from Buluk between 2004 and 2018, including several previously undescribed tooth positions for N. bulukensis, and provide the first evaluation of dental metric and morphological variation in this sample. The results show that the expanded Buluk sample exhibits high levels of dental variation in the postcanine tooth row, similar to V. macinnesi at Maboko, but this variation is consistent with a single-species hypothesis. Subtle differences in the shape of the I1, breadth of the C1 and P3, relative breadth of M1, upper and lower molar distal shelf lengths, the degree of M2 basal flare, and a less-developed lower molar distal lophid differentiate the dentition of N. bulukensis from V. macinnesi. Although differences exist between the N. bulukensis and V. macinnesi dental samples, the high degree of variation within each sample complicates the identification of many individual specimens. New partial maxillae and mandibles allow reassessment of previously described diagnostic differences between N. bulukensis and V. macinnesi, negating upper molar arcade shape as a diagnostic feature and confirming the existence of differences in mandibular symphyseal morphology. Overall, new fossils from Buluk provide new evidence of the dentognathic anatomy of a medium-sized cercopithecoid that coexisted with a diverse group of noncercopithecoid catarrhines at the end of the early Miocene.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ellis M Locke
- Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85282, USA; School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85282, USA.
| | - Brenda R Benefit
- Department of Anthropology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, 88003, USA
| | - Clare M Kimock
- Center for the Study of Human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, NY, 10003, USA; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY, 10003, USA
| | - Ellen R Miller
- Department of Anthropology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, 27106, USA
| | - Isaiah Nengo
- Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
A genotype:phenotype approach to testing taxonomic hypotheses in hominids. Naturwissenschaften 2020; 107:40. [PMID: 32870408 DOI: 10.1007/s00114-020-01696-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2020] [Revised: 04/20/2020] [Accepted: 08/19/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Paleontology has long relied on assumptions about the genetic and developmental influences on skeletal variation. The last few decades of developmental genetics have elucidated the genetic pathways involved in making teeth and patterning the dentition. Quantitative genetic analyses have refined this genotype:phenotype map even more, especially for primates. We now have the ability to define dental traits with a fair degree of fidelity to the underlying genetic architecture; for example, the molar module component (MMC) and the premolar-molar module (PMM) that have been defined through quantitative genetic analyses. We leverage an extensive dataset of extant and extinct hominoid dental variation to explore how these two genetically patterned phenotypes have evolved through time. We assess MMC and PMM to test the hypothesis that these two traits reveal a more biologically informed taxonomy at the genus and species levels than do more traditional measurements. Our results indicate that MMC values for hominids fall into two categories and that Homo is derived compared with earlier taxa. We find a more variable, species-level pattern for PMM. These results, in combination with previous research, demonstrate that MMC reflects the phenotypic output of a more evolutionarily stable, or phylogenetically congruent, genetic mechanism, and PMM is a reflection of a more evolutionarily labile mechanism. These results suggest that the human lineage since the split with chimpanzees may not represent as much genus-level variation as has been inferred from traits whose etiologies are not understood.
Collapse
|
5
|
Rossie JB, Hill A. A new species of Simiolus from the middle Miocene of the Tugen Hills, Kenya. J Hum Evol 2018; 125:50-58. [PMID: 30502897 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.09.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2017] [Revised: 09/06/2018] [Accepted: 09/07/2018] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
A new species of the "small-bodied ape" Simiolus is described here that extends the temporal range of the genus to the end of the Middle Miocene. As such, it is one of the few species of fossil primates known from East Africa during a time of significant change in which Old World monkeys and crown hominoids replaced the primitive ape-like primates that had dominated the early Miocene. The dynamics of this important event in our evolutionary history are obscured by the small number of fossil primates known from Africa between 14 and 6 million years ago, as well as persistent ambiguity regarding the phylogenetic status of the ape-like Miocene primates. The new species described here helps to fill this temporal gap, and our analysis of its phylogenetic position suggests that Simiolus and many other Miocene primates were not only ape-like, they were, indeed, stem hominoids. Judging from the available material, the new species may be the smallest known ape.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- James B Rossie
- Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
| | - Andrew Hill
- Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
New infant cranium from the African Miocene sheds light on
ape evolution. Nature 2017; 548:169-174. [DOI: 10.1038/nature23456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2017] [Accepted: 07/04/2017] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
|
7
|
KUNIMATSU YUTAKA, SAWADA YOSHIHIRO, SAKAI TETSUYA, SANEYOSHI MOTOTAKA, NAKAYA HIDEO, YAMAMOTO AYUMI, NAKATSUKASA MASATO. The latest occurrence of the nyanzapithecines from the early Late Miocene Nakali Formation in Kenya, East Africa. ANTHROPOL SCI 2017. [DOI: 10.1537/ase.170126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - TETSUYA SAKAI
- Department of Geoscience, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Shimane University, Matsue
| | - MOTOTAKA SANEYOSHI
- Faculty of Biosphere-Geosphere Science, Okayama University of Science, Okayama
| | - HIDEO NAKAYA
- Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima
| | | | - MASATO NAKATSUKASA
- Laboratory of Physical Anthropology, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
|
9
|
Alba DM, Almecija S, DeMiguel D, Fortuny J, de los Rios MP, Pina M, Robles JM, Moya-Sola S. Miocene small-bodied ape from Eurasia sheds light on hominoid evolution. Science 2015; 350:aab2625. [DOI: 10.1126/science.aab2625] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2015] [Accepted: 09/21/2015] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
|
10
|
A systematic revision of Proconsul with the description of a new genus of early Miocene hominoid. J Hum Evol 2015; 84:42-61. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.03.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2014] [Revised: 02/10/2015] [Accepted: 03/24/2015] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
|
11
|
Dental microwear profilometry of African non-cercopithecoid catarrhines of the Early Miocene. J Hum Evol 2015; 78:33-43. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.08.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2013] [Revised: 08/18/2014] [Accepted: 08/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
|
12
|
New Fauna from Loperot Contributes to the Understanding of Early Miocene Catarrhine Communities. INT J PRIMATOL 2014. [DOI: 10.1007/s10764-014-9799-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
|
13
|
de Bonis L, Koufos GD. First discovery of postcranial bones of Ouranopithecus macedoniensis (Primates, Hominoidea) from the late Miocene of Macedonia (Greece). J Hum Evol 2014; 74:21-36. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.05.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2012] [Revised: 03/20/2014] [Accepted: 05/16/2014] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
|
14
|
Gilbert CC, Goble ED, Hill A. Miocene Cercopithecoidea from the Tugen Hills, Kenya. J Hum Evol 2010; 59:465-83. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2010.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2009] [Revised: 04/26/2010] [Accepted: 05/01/2010] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
|
15
|
Pickford M, Senut B, Gommery D, Musiime E. Distinctiveness of Ugandapithecus from Proconsul. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2009. [DOI: 10.3989/egeol.39926.071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
|
16
|
Miller ER, Benefit BR, McCrossin ML, Plavcan JM, Leakey MG, El-Barkooky AN, Hamdan MA, Abdel Gawad MK, Hassan SM, Simons EL. Systematics of early and middle Miocene Old World monkeys. J Hum Evol 2009; 57:195-211. [PMID: 19640562 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2009.06.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2007] [Revised: 03/16/2009] [Accepted: 06/23/2009] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
New information about the early cercopithecoids Prohylobates tandyi (Wadi Moghra, Egypt) and Prohylobates sp. indet. (Buluk and Nabwal, Kenya) is presented. Comparisons are made among all major collections of Early and Middle Miocene catarrhine monkeys, and a systematic revision of the early Old World monkeys is provided. Previous work involving the systematics of early Old World monkeys (Victoriapithecidae; Cercopithecoidea) has been hampered by a number of factors, including the poor preservation of Prohylobates material from North Africa and lack of comparable anatomical parts across collections. However, it is now shown that basal cercopithecoid species from both northern and eastern Africa can be distinguished from one another on the basis of degree of lower molar bilophodonty, relative lower molar size, occlusal details, symphyseal construction, and mandibular shape. Results of particular interest include: 1) the first identification of features that unambiguously define Prohylobates relative to Victoriapithecus; 2) confirmation that P. tandyi is incompletely bilophodont; and 3) recognition of additional victoriapithecid species.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- E R Miller
- Department of Anthropology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27106-7807, USA.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
17
|
Abstract
This review has three main aims: (1) to make specific predictions about the habitat of the hypothetical last common ancestor of the chimpanzee/bonobo-human clade; (2) to outline the major trends in environments between 8-6 Ma and the late Pleistocene; and (3) to pinpoint when, and in some cases where, human ancestors evolved to cope with the wide range of habitats they presently tolerate. Several lines of evidence indicate that arboreal environments, particularly woodlands, were important habitats for late Miocene hominids and hominins, and therefore possibly for the last common ancestor of the chimpanzee/bonobo-human clade. However, as there is no clear candidate for this last common ancestor, and because the sampling of fossils and past environments is inevitably patchy, this prediction remains a working hypothesis at best. Nonetheless, as a primate, it is expected that the last common ancestor was ecologically dependent on trees in some form. Understanding past environments is important, as palaeoenvironmental reconstructions provide the context for human morphological and behavioural evolution. Indeed, the impact of climate on the evolutionary history of our species has long been debated. Since the mid-Miocene, the Earth has been experiencing a general cooling trend accompanied by aridification, which intensified during the later Pliocene and Pleistocene. Numerous climatic fluctuations, as well as local, regional and continental geography that influenced weather patterns and vegetation, created hominin environments that were dynamic in space and time. Behavioural flexibility and cultural complexity were crucial aspects of hominin expansion into diverse environments during the Pleistocene, but the ability to exploit varied and varying habitats was established much earlier in human evolutionary history. The development of increasingly complex tool technology facilitated re-expansion into tropical forests. These environments are difficult for obligate bipeds to negotiate, but their exploitation was accomplished by archaic and/or anatomically modern humans independently in Africa and south-east Asia. Complex social behaviour and material culture also allowed modern humans to reach some of the most hostile regions of the globe, above the Arctic Circle, by the late Pleistocene. This, with colonization of the Americas and Australasia, established Homo sapiens as a truly cosmopolitan species.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Elton
- Functional Morphology and Evolution Unit, Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, Hull, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Suwa G, Kono RT, Katoh S, Asfaw B, Beyene Y. A new species of great ape from the late Miocene epoch in Ethiopia. Nature 2007; 448:921-4. [PMID: 17713533 DOI: 10.1038/nature06113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 94] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2007] [Accepted: 07/25/2007] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
With the discovery of Ardipithecus, Orrorin and Sahelanthropus, our knowledge of hominid evolution before the emergence of Pliocene species of Australopithecus has significantly increased, extending the hominid fossil record back to at least 6 million years (Myr) ago. However, because of the dearth of fossil hominoid remains in sub-Saharan Africa spanning the period 12-7 Myr ago, nothing is known of the actual timing and mode of divergence of the African ape and hominid lineages. Most genomic-based studies suggest a late divergence date-5-6 Myr ago and 6-8 Myr ago for the human-chimp and human-gorilla splits, respectively-and some palaeontological and molecular analyses hypothesize a Eurasian origin of the African ape and hominid clade. We report here the discovery and recognition of a new species of great ape, Chororapithecus abyssinicus, from the 10-10.5-Myr-old deposits of the Chorora Formation at the southern margin of the Afar rift. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first fossils of a large-bodied Miocene ape from the African continent north of Kenya. They exhibit a gorilla-sized dentition that combines distinct shearing crests with thick enamel on its 'functional' side cusps. Visualization of the enamel-dentine junction by micro-computed tomography reveals shearing crest features that partly resemble the modern gorilla condition. These features represent genetically based structural modifications probably associated with an initial adaptation to a comparatively fibrous diet. The relatively flat cuspal enamel-dentine junction and thick enamel, however, suggest a concurrent adaptation to hard and/or abrasive food items. The combined evidence suggests that Chororapithecus may be a basal member of the gorilla clade, and that the latter exhibited some amount of adaptive and phyletic diversity at around 10-11 Myr ago.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gen Suwa
- The University Museum, the University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
| | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|