The Miocene primate Pliobates is a pliopithecoid.
Nat Commun
; 15(1): 2822, 2024 Apr 01.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38561329
ABSTRACT
The systematic status of the small-bodied catarrhine primate Pliobates cataloniae, from the Miocene (11.6 Ma) of Spain, is controversial because it displays a mosaic of primitive and derived features compared with extant hominoids (apes and humans). Cladistic analyses have recovered Pliobates as either a stem hominoid or as a pliopithecoid stem catarrhine (i.e., preceding the cercopithecoid-hominoid divergence). Here, we describe additional dental remains of P. cataloniae from another locality that display unambiguous synapomorphies of crouzeliid pliopithecoids. Our cladistic analyses support a close phylogenetic link with poorly-known small crouzeliids from Europe based on (cranio)dental characters but recover pliopithecoids as stem hominoids when postcranial characters are included. We conclude that Pliobates is a derived stem catarrhine that shows postcranial convergences with modern apes in the elbow and wrist joints-thus clarifying pliopithecoid evolution and illustrating the plausibility of independent acquisition of postcranial similarities between hylobatids and hominids.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Hominidae
/
Fossils
Limits:
Animals
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Nat Commun
Journal subject:
BIOLOGIA
/
CIENCIA
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
España
Country of publication:
Reino Unido