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Mattingly SG, Beard KC, Coster PMC, Salem MJ, Chaimanee Y, Jaeger JJ. A new parapithecine (Primates: Anthropoidea) from the early Oligocene of Libya supports parallel evolution of large body size among parapithecids. J Hum Evol 2021; 153:102957. [PMID: 33652264 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102957] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2020] [Revised: 01/25/2021] [Accepted: 01/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Parapithecines are an extinct subfamily of stem anthropoid primates previously known only from the Jebel Qatrani Formation in Egypt. Here, we describe isolated teeth pertaining to Simonsius harujensis sp. nov., a relatively small-bodied parapithecine from strata near Zallah Oasis in the Sirt Basin of central Libya that is estimated to date to ∼31 Ma on the basis of mammalian biostratigraphy. The dental morphology of S. harujensis sp. nov. is generally intermediate between that of the closely related parapithecines Parapithecus fraasi and Simonsius grangeri, highlighting some of the anatomical features distinguishing the latter taxa and providing further support for their generic separation. A phylogenetic analysis using parsimony methods was performed on a character-taxon matrix incorporating data from the new Libyan parapithecine, virtually all other parapithecids and the proteopithecid Proteopithecus sylviae. Results of this analysis suggest that parapithecids comprise a basal clade consisting of three species of Biretia and a more derived clade including Parapithecinae (Parapithecus and Simonsius) and Qatraniinae (Qatrania, Ucayalipithecus, and Apidium). Body mass estimates for parapithecids were calculated on the basis of regression equations generated to predict body mass from the occlusal area of upper and lower cheek teeth in extant anthropoids. The relatively small body mass of S. harujensis sp. nov. and its reconstructed phylogenetic position as the sister group of S. grangeri, which is the largest known parapithecid, support the convergent acquisition of body mass larger than 500 g among multiple clades of early Oligocene African anthropoids. The new Libyan parapithecine augments previously reported evidence supporting a substantial degree of faunal provincialism across northern Africa/Arabia during the early Oligocene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Spencer G Mattingly
- Biodiversity Institute and Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA
| | - K Christopher Beard
- Biodiversity Institute and Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA.
| | - Pauline M C Coster
- Réserve Naturelle Nationale Géologique du Luberon, 60 Place Jean-Jaurès, 84404, Apt, France
| | - Mustafa J Salem
- Department of Geology, University of Tripoli, P.O. Box 13258, Tripoli, Libya
| | - Yaowalak Chaimanee
- Laboratoire de Paléontologie, Evolution, Paléoécosystèmes, Paléoprimatologie (PALEVOPRIM), UMR 7262 CNRS, Université de Poitiers, 6 Rue Michel Brunet, 86073 Poitiers, France
| | - Jean-Jacques Jaeger
- Laboratoire de Paléontologie, Evolution, Paléoécosystèmes, Paléoprimatologie (PALEVOPRIM), UMR 7262 CNRS, Université de Poitiers, 6 Rue Michel Brunet, 86073 Poitiers, France
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Seiffert ER, Tejedor MF, Fleagle JG, Novo NM, Cornejo FM, Bond M, de Vries D, Campbell KE. A parapithecid stem anthropoid of African origin in the Paleogene of South America. Science 2020; 368:194-197. [PMID: 32273470 DOI: 10.1126/science.aba1135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2019] [Accepted: 02/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Phylogenetic evidence suggests that platyrrhine (or New World) monkeys and caviomorph rodents of the Western Hemisphere derive from source groups from the Eocene of Afro-Arabia, a landmass that was ~1500 to 2000 kilometers east of South America during the late Paleogene. Here, we report evidence for a third mammalian lineage of African origin in the Paleogene of South America-a newly discovered genus and species of parapithecid anthropoid primate from Santa Rosa in Amazonian Perú. Bayesian clock-based phylogenetic analysis nests this genus (Ucayalipithecus) deep within the otherwise Afro-Arabian clade Parapithecoidea and indicates that transatlantic rafting of the lineage leading to Ucayalipithecus likely took place between ~35 and ~32 million years ago, a dispersal window that includes the major worldwide drop in sea level that occurred near the Eocene-Oligocene boundary.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik R Seiffert
- Department of Integrative Anatomical Sciences, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA. .,Department of Mammalogy, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA
| | - Marcelo F Tejedor
- Instituto Patagónico de Geología y Paleontología (CCT CONICET-CENPAT), 9120 Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina.,Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Sede Trelew, Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia San Juan Bosco, 9100 Trelew, Chubut, Argentina.,Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre, SE 405 30, Göteborg, Sweden
| | - John G Fleagle
- Department of Anatomical Sciences, Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA
| | - Nelson M Novo
- Instituto Patagónico de Geología y Paleontología (CCT CONICET-CENPAT), 9120 Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina
| | - Fanny M Cornejo
- Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.,Yunkawasi, Lima, Perú
| | - Mariano Bond
- CONICET, División Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo de Ciencias Naturales de La Plata, B1900FWA La Plata, Argentina
| | - Dorien de Vries
- Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA
| | - Kenneth E Campbell
- Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA
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