New fossils show primates that have ancestors in Asia

According to new research results published online in Proceedings of the Royal Society B (Biological Sciences) on July 1, 2009, a newly discovered fossil primate in Myanmar revealed that the common ancestor of humans, apes and gibbons may have evolved from Asian primates, not Africans as many researchers think.

The main focus of recent paleontological research focuses on the origins of human primates (including humans, monkeys, apes) from primitive primates rather than living earlier with the designation semifinals (including lemurs, dwarf tarsier monkeys, and their extinct relatives). Given recent discoveries in China, Thailand, and Myanmar, most scientists believe that human apes originated in Africa. Earlier this year, the discovery of the backbone of fossil primate 'Ida' in Germany caused some scientists to suggest that human primates evolved from lemur-like adapiforms.

The discovery of fossil primates recently in Myanmar revealed that the common ancestors of humans, apes and gibbons may have evolved from Asian primates, not Africa, as many researchers do. think. (Photo: Mark A. Klingler / Carnegie Museum of Natural History). According to Dr. Chris Beard, a paleontologist at the Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and a member of the international research group on Myanmar's gibbon findings - new primates, Ganlea megacanina, showing the first human ape originated in Asia rather than Africa. These early Asian gibbons were fundamentally different from adapiform species like Ida, which proves that Ida is more related to modern lemurs than to monkeys, apes and humans. .

The 38 million-year-old Ganlea megacanina fossil, excavated at various locations in central Myanmar, belongs to a species and a new breed. The name of this new species is adapted from the name of Ganle village, near the area where fossils have been found, and large teeth shaped like dog teeth are the characteristics that distinguish this species from other relatives of primates. Scratches on the teeth indicate that Ganlea megacanina has used these 'dog teeth' to depend on the hard outer crust of tropical fruits and extract the fruit intestines containing nutrients inside.

"This diet has never been recorded in any of the semi-primates, but is characteristic of the modern South American saki monkey that resides in the Amazon basin," Dr. Beard said. Ganlea showed that early Asian gibbons 38 million years ago also took on the ecological role of modern monkeys. '

Ganlea and its closest relatives belong to an extinct family of Asian primates called Amphipithecidae. Two species of this family, Pondaungia and Myanmarpithecus, were also found in Myanmar, while the third species, Siamopithecus, was discovered in Thailand before. A detailed analysis of their evolutionary relationships shows that these family species are closely related to today's human animals, and all Amphipithecidae species in Burma (formerly Myanmar) have progressed. from a single common ancestor. Some scientists have previously argued that these species are not human animals, they have a closer relationship with the lemur-like adapiform.

The discovery of Ganlea strongly supports the idea that the Amphipithecidae family, the adapiform family of animals, has never evolved the properties necessary to become a species characterized by fruit and seeds. In fact, the whole family in Burma is characterized by fruit and nuts, taking on the modern pitheciine monkey-like ecological role that lives in the South American Amazon basin. During the Eocene period, when Ganlea and other species of the Amphipithecidae family existed in Myanmar today, they live in the estuarine plains formed by floodwaters, which have similar environmental characteristics to those in the river basin. Current Amazon.

Ganlea megacanina's fossil was first discovered in Myanmar in December 2005. This outdoor study is a collaboration of scientists from several institutes in Myanmar, as well as the University of Poitiers and the University. Study Montpellier of France, Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Thailand Ministry of Mineral Resources. Funding for the program is funded by the US National Science Foundation and the French National Center for Scientific Research.