Pliopithecoidea

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Pliopithecoidea
Temporal range: Middle Miocene–Late Miocene
Epipliopithecus vindobonensis.jpg
Epipliopithecus skull
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Infraorder: Simiiformes
Parvorder: Catarrhini
Superfamily:† Pliopithecoidea
Families, subfamilies & unplaced genera

Dionysopithecidae
Pliopithecidae
Crouzeliinae
Paidopithex
Krishnapithecus
Kapi

Contents

Pliopithecoidea is an extinct superfamily of catarrhine primates that inhabited Asia and Europe during the Miocene. [1] [2] Although they were once a widespread and diverse group of primates, the pliopithecoids have no living descendants.

History of discovery

The first fossil specimens attributed to Pliopithecoidea were discovered by Édouard Lartet in Sansan, France in 1837. These fossils were later referenced by Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville in 1839, who named the type species Pliopithecus antiquus . A second species, Pliopithecus platyodon, was discovered in Switzerland by Biedermann in 1863. Following this, a small number of other pliopithecoid species were described from fossil collections found in France, Germany, and Poland. [1]

In the mid-twentieth century, paleontologists Johannes Hürzeler and Helmuth Zapfe reinvigorated interest in the pliopithecoids with a series of publications in which they named a number of new species, including Pliopithecus vindobonensis, which consists of the most complete cranial and post-cranial pliopithecoid specimens ever discovered. Based on their size, and some superficial similarities to modern day gibbons, Zapfe suggested that pliopithecoids were ancestral to the Hylobatidae lineage. [3]

With the discovery of more European pliopithecoid fossils in the mid to late 1970s, [4] [5] and subsequent discovery of pliopithecoid fossils in China, [6] the idea that pliopithecoids were ancestral to gibbons fell out of favor. Today, most paleontologists agree that pliopithecoids hold a basal position in the catarrhine family tree. [1] [2] [7] As such, pliopithecoids represent something similar to the common ancestor of Old World monkeys and apes.

A femur discovered in Eppelsheim and given the genus name Paidopithex was for many years controversial, as its large size compared to Pliopithecoids led to suggestions that it was instead related to the Dryopithecini. A lack of femurs for Dryopithecini meant that the suggestion was not ruled out for many years, but in 2002 work by Köhler et al comparing it to a recently discovered Dryopithecus laietanus skeleton showed that it was very different from the Dryopithecini. However, Köhler felt unable to definitely place Paidopithex in the Pliopithecoid superfamily, stating it was either an unusually large Pliopithecoid (estimated bodyweight 22 kg) or could be the sole known species of a separate superfamily. [8]

A worn tooth found near Haritalyangar in India and dated from around 9 to 8 million years ago has been suggested as possibly a Pliopithecoid species, Krishnapithecus krishnai, but the wear has made this difficult to determine. [9] However, two recently discovered molars in the same area appear to support this, with placement within the superfamily uncertain (but clearly not Crouzeliinae). [10]

Physical characteristics

The pliopithecoid fossil record mostly consists of teeth with a few mandibular and maxillary fragments. [1] [2] The dental formula (2.1.2.3) and shape of the teeth are the primary factors which include pliopithecoids among the catarrhini. Although some authors have argued that the narrow upper molars and broad upper molars of pliopithecoids demonstrate their affinity with modern catarrhines, [11] others have demonstrated that these traits are variable between species. [1] In fact, pliopithecoids are more similar to New World monkeys in some aspects of their dentition, including narrow lower incisors (mesiodistally waisted towards the base of the crown). [1] [12] Many species have what is often referred to as a 'pliopithecine triangle', a subtle set of ridges defining a small triangular shaped pit between the protocone and hypocone of the lower molars, but even this trait is variable. [1] [13] Instead, the most defining dental trait present in all pliopithecoids is a tall crowned lower third premolar, which is relatively triangular in outline with a comparatively short, vertically oriented mesiobucal face. [1]

The crania of P. vindobonesis, Laccopithecus robustus, Pliopithecus zhanxiangi, and Anapithecus hernyaki demonstrate that pliopithecoids had relatively large and globular braincases with a projecting snout. [1] [14] The snout projects less than the propliopithecoids of North Africa (i.e. Aegyptopithecus ), suggesting some prognathic reduction from the inferred common ancestor of these two primate families. The orbits are widely spaced and the mandible is long and robust, with a relatively broad ramus. [1] Most importantly, however, pliopithecoids had an incompletely ossified ectotympanic tube. This anatomical feature represents an intermediate stage between what is found in platyrrhines, which do not have an ossified ectotympanic tube, and catarrhines, which have a completely ossified ectotympanic tube. [1] [2] [14]

Nearly all of what is known about the body proportions and post-cranial morphology of this family are derived from Pliopithecus vindobonensis, as it is the only species for which a complete skeleton has been found. [3] Still, the majority of fossil material indicates that pliopithecoids were medium sized primates, approximately the size of a howler monkey or a gibbon (8 kg). [15] Köhler estimates a slightly higher average weight of 10 kg. [8] Post-cranially, pliopithecoids had an interesting mix of platyrrhine and catarrhine traits. The brachial index of P. vindobonesis (the length of the radius divided by the length of the humerus) is similar to that of a howler monkey, but the crural index (the length of the tibia divided by the length of the femur) is similar to that of a gibbon. [1] Proportionally, however, the forelimbs of P. vindobonesis were shorter than their hindlimbs, making them comparable to a baboon. The hands and feet of P. vindobonesis were long and curved, suggesting that pliopithecoids were adept and agile climbers. [1] [3] The post-crania of P. vindobonesis also shows that Pliopithecoids had an entepicondylar foramen, which is a primitive trait not found in any other catarrhine primates (extant or extinct). [1] [2] [14] The wrist and hands of pliopithecoids were seemingly much more similar to platyrrhines than to catarrhines, as the carpo-metacarpal joint of the thumb is a modified “hinge joint” compared to the "saddle-like" thumb joint found in Old World monkeys and apes. [13] Pliopithecoids also had a tail. [1] [14]

Classification

The following classification scheme represents multiple sources.[ citation needed ]

Begun divides Pliopithecoidea into two - Family Dionysopithecidae and Family Pliopithecidae, with the Pliopithecidae sub-divided into Subfamilies Pliopithecinae and Crouzeliinae. [9]

Notes

  1. ↑ P. piveteaui is considered a junior synonym of P. antiquus (Bergounioux and Crouzel, 1965; Harrison, 1991; Andrews et al., 1996), and as a distinct species by Begun (2002).
  2. 1 2 Ginsburg (1975) and Moyá-Solá et al. (2001) recognize P. auscitanensis and P. rhodancia as a distinct genus, Crouzelia.
  3. ↑ P. priensis is placed into Pliopithecus by Andrews et al. (1996) and Moyá-Solá et al. (2001), but it has since been moved into Pleisopliopithecus by Begun (2002) and Harrison (2013)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ape</span> Branch of primates

Apes are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, which together with its sister group Cercopithecidae form the catarrhine clade, cladistically making them monkeys. Apes do not have tails due to a mutation of the TBXT gene. In traditional and non-scientific use, the term ape can include tailless primates taxonomically considered Cercopithecidae, and is thus not equivalent to the scientific taxon Hominoidea. There are two extant branches of the superfamily Hominoidea: the gibbons, or lesser apes; and the hominids, or great apes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catarrhini</span> Group of Old World monkeys and apes

The parvorder Catarrhini consists of the Cercopithecoidea and apes (Hominoidea). In 1812, Geoffroy grouped those two groups together and established the name Catarrhini, "Old World monkeys",. Its sister in the infraorder Simiiformes is the parvorder Platyrrhini. There has been some resistance to directly designate apes as monkeys despite the scientific evidence, so "Old World monkey" may be taken to mean the Cercopithecoidea or the Catarrhini. That apes are monkeys was already realized by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in the 18th century. Linnaeus placed this group in 1758 together with what we now recognise as the tarsiers and the New World monkeys, in a single genus "Simia". The Catarrhini are all native to Africa and Asia. Members of this parvorder are called catarrhines.

<i>Oreopithecus</i> Extinct genus of hominid from the Miocene

Oreopithecus is an extinct genus of hominoid primate from the Miocene epoch whose fossils have been found in today's Tuscany and Sardinia in Italy. It existed nine to seven million years ago in the Tusco-Sardinian area when this region was an isolated island in a chain of islands stretching from central Europe to northern Africa in what was becoming the Mediterranean Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haplorhini</span> Suborder of primates

Haplorhini, the haplorhines or the "dry-nosed" primates is a suborder of primates containing the tarsiers and the simians, as sister of the Strepsirrhini ("moist-nosed"). The name is sometimes spelled Haplorrhini. The simians include catarrhines, and the platyrrhines.

<i>Pliopithecus</i> Extinct genus of primates

Pliopithecus {meaning "more ape") is a genus of extinct primates of the Miocene. It was discovered in 1837 by Édouard Lartet (1801–1871) in France, with fossils subsequently discovered in Switzerland, Slovakia and Spain.

<i>Aegyptopithecus</i> Extinct single-species genus of primate

Aegyptopithecus is an early fossil catarrhine that predates the divergence between hominoids (apes) and cercopithecids. It is known from a single species, Aegyptopithecus zeuxis, which lived around 38-29.5 million years ago in the early part of the Oligocene epoch. It likely resembled modern-day New World monkeys, and was about the same size as a modern howler monkey, which is about 56 to 92 cm long. Aegyptopithecus fossils have been found in the Jebel Qatrani Formation of modern-day Egypt. Aegyptopithecus is believed to be a stem-catarrhine, a crucial link between Eocene and Miocene fossils.

<i>Dryopithecus</i> Extinct great ape from Europe

Dryopithecus is a genus of extinct great apes from the middle–late Miocene boundary of Europe 12.5 to 11.1 million years ago (mya). Since its discovery in 1856, the genus has been subject to taxonomic turmoil, with numerous new species being described from single remains based on minute differences amongst each other, and the fragmentary nature of the holotype specimen makes differentiating remains difficult. There is currently only one uncontested species, the type species D. fontani, though there may be more. The genus is placed into the tribe Dryopithecini, which is either an offshoot of orangutans, African apes, or is its own separate branch.

<i>Ouranopithecus</i> Genus of extinct Eurasian great ape from the Miocene

Ouranopithecus is a genus of extinct Eurasian great ape represented by two species, Ouranopithecus macedoniensis, a late Miocene hominoid from Greece and Ouranopithecus turkae, also from the late Miocene of Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pliopithecidae</span> Extinct family of primates

The family Pliopithecidae is an extinct family of fossil catarrhines and members of the Pliopithecoidea superfamily.

Anoiapithecus is an extinct ape genus thought to be closely related to Dryopithecus. Both genera lived during the Miocene, approximately 12 million years ago. Fossil specimens named by Salvador Moyà-Solà are known from the deposits from Spain.

<i>Saadanius</i> Extinct genus of primates

Saadanius is a genus of fossil primates dating to the Oligocene that is closely related to the common ancestor of the Old World monkeys and apes, collectively known as catarrhines. It is represented by a single species, Saadanius hijazensis, which is known only from a single partial skull tentatively dated between 29 and 28 million years ago. It was discovered in 2009 in western Saudi Arabia near Mecca and was first described in 2010 after comparison with both living and fossil catarrhines.

<i>Graecopithecus</i> Extinct genus of hominids

Graecopithecus is an extinct genus of hominid that lived in southeast Europe during the late Miocene around 7.2 million years ago. Originally identified by a single lower jaw bone bearing teeth found in Pyrgos Vasilissis, Athens, Greece, in 1944, other teeth were discovered from Azmaka quarry in Bulgaria in 2012. With only little and badly preserved materials to reveal its nature, it is considered as "the most poorly known European Miocene hominoids." The creature was popularly nicknamed 'El Graeco' by scientists.

<i>Hispanopithecus</i> Genus of apes from Miocene Europe

Hispanopithecus is a genus of apes that inhabited Europe during the Miocene epoch. It was first identified in a 1944 paper by J. F. Villalta and M. Crusafont in Notas y Comunicaciones del Instituto Geologico y Minero de España. Anthropologists disagree as to whether Hispanopithecus belongs to the subfamily Ponginae or Homininae.

<i>Anapithecus</i> Extinct genus of primates

Anapithecus is a late Miocene primate known from fossil locations in Hungary and Austria. Many Anapithecus fossils come from the site of Rudabánya, in northern Hungary, where Anapithecus lived alongside the ape Rudapithecus. The only species in the genus, Anapithecus hernyaki, is named after Gabor Hernyák, chief geologist of the Iron Ore Works of Rudabánya.

Agerinia is a genus of adapiform primate that lived in Europe during the early Eocene. Fossils have been found in the Grès d'Assignan, Lignites de Soissonais, and Calcare d'Agel Formations of France, the Corçà and Escanilla Formations of Spain and the Kuldana Formation of Pakistan.

Crouzeliinae is an extinct subfamily of Pliopithecidae primates that inhabited Europe and China during the Miocene, approximately 8–14.5 million years ago - they appear to have originated in Asia and extended their range into Europe between 17 and 13 million years ago. Crouzeliines can be distinguished from the other Pliopithecoidea subfamilies on the basis of uniquely derived dental traits.

Dionysopithecidae is an extinct family of fossil catarrhines and the earliest-known and most primitive members of the Pliopithecoidea superfamily, with fossils in Sihong in China dating to 18–17 million years ago for species Dionysopithecus shuangouensis and Platodontopithecus jianghuaiensis.

<i>Epipliopithecus</i> Extinct genus of primates

Epipliopithecus vindobonensis is an extinct species of pliopithecoid primate recovered from the Middle Miocene deposits of Devínska Nová Ves fissure in western Slovakia. Epipliopithecus is one of the few pliopithecoids for which both cranial and post-cranial fossil material has been recovered. Most pliopithecoids are known only from fossilized teeth, whereas Epipliopithecus is known from three nearly complete skeletons. As such, Epipliopithecus has greatly informed the modern understanding of pliopithecoid anatomy, locomotion, and phylogeny.

<i>Nyanzapithecus</i> Extinct species of mammal

Nyanzapithecus pickfordi is an extinct species of primate from the Middle Miocene of Maboko Island, Nyanza Province, Kenya. It had an average body mass of around 10 kg (22 lb).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Begun, David (2002). The Pliopithecoidea (PDF). Cambridge University Press. ISBN   0-521-66315-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-25. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Harrison, Terry (2013). Catarrhine Origins. Wiley-Blackwell.
  3. 1 2 3 Zapfe, Helmuth (1958). "The skeleton of Pliopithecus (Epipliopithecus) vindobonesis Zapfe and Hürzeler". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 16 (4): 441–457. doi:10.1002/ajpa.1330160405.
  4. ↑ Ginsburg, Leonard (1975). "Les Pliopithe'ques des faluns helve´tiens de la Touraine et de l'Anjou". Colloques Internationaux du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (218): 877–886.
  5. ↑ Ginsburg, Leonard; Mein, Pierre (1980). "Crouzelia rhondanica, nouvelle espe'ce de primate catarrhinien, et essai sur la position systématique de Pliopithecidae". Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris (4): 57–85.
  6. ↑ Li, Chuan-kuei (1978). "A Miocene gibbon-like primate from Shihhung, Kiangsu Province". Vertebrata PalAsiatica (16): 187–192.
  7. ↑ Alba, David; Moyà-Solà, Salvador (2012). "A New Pliopithecid Genus (Primates: Pliopithecoidea) From Castel de Barberà (Vallès-Penedès Basin, Catalonia, Spain)". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 147 (1): 88–112. doi:10.1002/ajpa.21630. PMID   22101732.
  8. 1 2 Köhler, M; Alba, DM; Solà, SM; MacLatchy, L (December 2002). "Taxonomic affinities of the Eppelsheim femur". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 119 (4): 297–304. doi:10.1002/ajpa.10140. PMID   12448015.
  9. 1 2 Harrison, Terry (2018). "Catarrhine Origins". In Trevathan, Wenda (ed.). The International Encyclopedia of Biological Anthropology. Vol. 1. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 306–311. doi:10.1002/9781118584538.ieba0087.
  10. ↑ Sankhyan, Anek; Kelley, Jay; Harrison, Terry (April 2017). "A highly derived pliopithecoid from the Late Miocene of Haritalyangar, India". Journal of Human Evolution. 105: 1–12. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.01.010. PMID   28366196.
  11. ↑ Harrison, Terry; Gu, Yumin (1999). "Taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of early Miocene catarrhines from Sihong, China". Journal of Human Evolution. 37 (2): 225–277. doi: 10.1006/jhev.1999.0310 . PMID   10444352.
  12. ↑ Alba, David; Moyà-Solà, Salvador; Malgosa, Assumpció; Casanovas-Vilar, Isaac; Robles, Josep; Almécija, Sergio; Galindo, Jordi; Rotgers, Cheyenn; Bertó Mengual, Juan Vicente (2010). "A new species of Pliopithecus Gervais, 1849 (Primates: Pliopithecoidea) from the Middle Miocene (MN8) of Abocador de Can Mata (els Hostalets de Pierola, Catalonia, Spain)". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 141 (1): 52–75. doi:10.1002/ajpa.21114. PMID   19544577.
  13. 1 2 Harrison, Terry (1987). "The phylogenetic relationships of the early catarrhine primates: a review of the current evidence". Journal of Human Evolution. 16: 41–80. doi:10.1016/0047-2484(87)90060-1.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Andrews, Peter; Harrison, Terry; Delson, Eric; Bernor, Raymond; Martin, L (1996). Distribution and Biochronology of European and Southwest Asian Miocene Catarrhines. Columbia University Press. ISBN   0-231-08246-0.
  15. ↑ Alba, David; Moyà-Solà, Salvador; Robles, Josep M.; Galindo, Jordi (2012). "Brief Communication: The Oldest Pliopithecid Record in the Iberia Peninsula Based on New Material From the Vallès-Penedès Basin". American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 147 (1): 135–140. doi:10.1002/ajpa.21631. PMID   22170401.
  16. ↑ Ji, Xueping; Harrison, Terry; Zhang, Yingqi; Wu, Yun; Zhang, Chunxia; Hu, Jinming; Wu, Dongdong; Hou, Yemao; Li, Song; Wang, Guofu; Wang, Zhenzhen (2022). "The earliest hylobatid from the Late Miocene of China". Journal of Human Evolution. 171: 103251. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103251 . ISSN   0047-2484.
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