Pliopithecoidea: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:33, 27 October 2020

Revision as of 23:34, 27 October 2020

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| authority =

| subdivision_ranks = Families, subfamilies & unplaced genera

| subdivision = [[Dionysopithecidae]] <br> [[Pliopithecidae]] <br> [[Crouzeliinae]] <br> Genus [[Paidopithex]] <br> Genus [[Krishnapithecus]]

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With the discovery of more European pliopithecoid fossils in the mid to late 1970s,<ref name="Ginsburg1975">{{cite journal|last1=Ginsburg|first1=Leonard|title=Les Pliopithe'ques des faluns helve´tiens de la Touraine et de l'Anjou |journal=Colloques Internationaux du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique |date=1975|issue=218|pages=877–886}}</ref><ref name="Ginsburg&Mein1980">{{cite journal|last1=Ginsburg|first1=Leonard|last2=Mein|first2=Pierre|title=''Crouzelia rhondanica'', nouvelle espe'ce de primate catarrhinien, et essai sur la position systématique de Pliopithecidae|journal=Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris|date=1980|issue=4|pages=57–85}}</ref> and subsequent discovery of pliopithecoid fossils in China,<ref name="Li1978">{{cite journal|last1=Li|first1=Chuan-kuei|title=A Miocene gibbon-like primate from Shihhung, Kiangsu Province|journal=Vertebrata PalAsiatica |date=1978|issue=16|pages=187–192}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Begun2002" /><ref name="Harrison2013" /><ref name="Alba&Moyà-Solà2012">{{cite journal|last1=Alba|first1=David|last2=Moyà-Solà|first2=Salvador|title=A New Pliopithecid Genus (Primates: Pliopithecoidea) From Castel de Barberà (Vallès-Penedès Basin, Catalonia, Spain)|journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology|date=2012|volume=147|issue=1|pages=88–112|doi=10.1002/ajpa.21630|pmid=22101732}}</ref> As such, pliopithecoids represent something similar to the common ancestor of [[Old World monkey]]s and [[ape]]s.

A [[femur]] discovered in [[Eppelsheim]] and given the Genusgenus 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&nbsp;kg) or could be the sole known species of a separate superfamily.<ref name="Kohler">{{cite journal |title=Taxonomic affinities of the Eppelsheim femur |last1=Köhler |first1=M |last2=Alba |first2=DM|last3=Solà |first3=SM|last4=MacLatchy |first4=L|date=December 2002 |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |pmid=12448015 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.10140 |volume=119 |issue=4 |pages=297–304}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Begun2012">{{cite book|editor-last1=Begun|editor-first1=David|title=A Companion To Paleoanthropology|date=2012|chapter=Chapter 20 Catarrhine Origins|last=Harrison|first=Terry|publisher=Wiley Blackwell|isbn=978-1-118-33237-5|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oIoT1RcFeCwC&pg=PT276|archiveurl=https://www.academia.edu/7124992|archive-date=2013}}</ref> However, two recently discovered molars in the same area appear to support this, with placement within the superfamily uncertain (but clearly not Crouzeliinae)<ref name="Sankhyan">{{cite journal |title=A highly derived pliopithecoid from the Late Miocene of Haritalyangar, India |last1=Sankhyan |first1=Anek |last2=Kelley |first2=Jay|last3=Harrison |first3=Terry|date=April 2017 |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.01.010 |pmid=28366196 |volume=105 |pages=1–12}}</ref>