A new Miocene ape and locomotion in the ancestor of great apes and humans

Böhme, Madelaine; Spassov, Nikolaï; Fuß, Jochen; Tröscher, Adrian; Deane, Andrew S.; Prieto, Jérôme; Kirscher, Uwe; Lechner, Thomas; Begun, David R.

doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1731-0

Cited by 90 publications

(97 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…This timeline is broadly consistent with geological evidence of time depth among closely related Miocene ape taxa. For example, thinly enameled European Miocene apes ( Dryopithecus, Danuvius, Hispanopithecus , and Rudapithecus ) occur within a span of about 2.5 MYA (Böhme et al, 2019; Casanovas‐Vilar et al, 2011). Proconsul and Ekembo are mostly restricted in time to between about 20 and 17 MYA (McNulty, Begun, Kelley, Manthi, & Mbua, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mandibular shape variation in mainland and insular hylobatids

Pitirri

Vermeulen

Komza

et al. 2020

American J Primatol

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Although hylobatids are the most speciose of the living apes, their morphological interspecies and intraspecies variation remains poorly understood. Here, we assess mandibular shape variation in two species of Hylobates, white‐handed (Hylobates lar) and black‐handed (Hylobates agilis) gibbons. Using 71 three‐dimensional landmarks to quantify mandibular shape, interspecies and intraspecies variation and geographic patterns of mandibular shape are examined in a mixed sex sample of adult H. lar and H. agilis through generalized Procrustes analysis, Procrustes analysis of variance, and principal components analysis. We find that relative to H. agilis, H. lar exhibits a higher amount of variation in mandibular shape. Both species demonstrate similar allometric patterns in mandibular shape. We also highlight a geographic pattern in mandibular shape variation. Compared to mainland hylobatids, insular hylobatids have relatively lower, more posteriorly oriented, and anteroposteriorly wider mandibular condyles, with an increased distance between the condyles and the coronoid processes. This geographic pattern could reflect differences in functional demands on the mandible during mastication and/or could be driven by factors often associated with evolutionary pressures of island populations relative to mainland populations. The findings of this study highlight how little is known about Hylobates morphological variation and how important this is for using Hylobates to help interpret the primate fossil record. Understanding interspecific and intraspecific variation in extant primates is vital to interpreting variation in the primate fossil record.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mandibular shape variation in mainland and insular hylobatids

Pitirri

Vermeulen

Komza

et al. 2020

American J Primatol

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“…Both Hammerschmiede levels represent floodplain channels of meandering fluvial systems of different age and dimension [37]. The level HAM 5 (dated to 11.62 Ma) represents a smallsized channel with a width of four to five meters and a channel fill thickness of 0.8-1 meter, corresponding to a rivulet of local origin [38]. The channel dimensions of the stratigraphically younger level HAM 4 (11.44 Ma) indicate a medium-sized river (width~50 m, thickness 4-5 m).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Hammerschmiede locality has long been known for rich vertebrate assemblages [40,41], and excavations of the past years have significantly augmented the diversity of the known fauna, which is so far represented by more than 120 vertebrate taxa. Most notable among the recent finds are fossils of the arboreal bipedal hominid Danuvius guggenmosi [38], but the vertebrate fossil record of the Hammerschmiede locality includes numerous other-from an extant European perspective-unusual vertebrate groups ( [37]: Table 1), such as the giant urodele Andrias scheuchzeri, the latest records of the archosauromorph taxon Choristodera, and the bear Kretzoiarctos, which is a stem group representative of the Giant Panda [42]. Both Hammerschmiede channel fills contain abundant and diverse fish fossils, especially from small to medium-sized species (standard length 10-20 cm), such as true catfish (Silurus), cypriniforms (loach, minnows, barbs, and others) and perciforms (perch, goby), indicating that these fluvial systems provided ample food resources for piscivorous darters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The large-sized darter Anhinga pannonica (Aves, Anhingidae) from the late Miocene hominid Hammerschmiede locality in Southern Germany

2020

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We report fossils of the darter Anhinga pannonica Lambrecht, 1916 from two late Miocene (Tortonian, 11.62 and 11.44 Ma) avifaunas in Southern Germany. The material from the hominid locality Hammerschmiede near Pforzen represents the most comprehensive record of this species and includes most major postcranial elements except for the tarsometatarsus. We furthermore show that the putative cormorant Phalacrocorax brunhuberi (von Ammon, 1918) from the middle Miocene of Regensburg-Dechbetten is another, previously misclassified, record of A. pannonica, and this may also be true for early Miocene fossils described as P. intermedius Milne-Edwards, 1867. A. pannonica was distinctly larger than extant darters and reached the size of A. grandis from the late Miocene of North America. We detail that only fossils from the Miocene of Europe and Africa can be referred to A. pannonica, whereas putative records from Asia fall within the size range of extant darters. A. pannonica appears to have been a long-living species (16 to 6 Ma) with an extensive distribution from the equator to the northern mid-latitudes. The extinction of large-sized darters in Europe is likely to have been due to climatic cooling in the late Neogene, but the reasons for their disappearance in Africa and South America remain elusive.

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“…Did it evolve from an ancestor that lived mainly in trees, or were these ancestors already walking on all fours on the ground and subsequently evolved to stand up and walk on two feet? On page 489, Böhme et al 3 report the discovery of an ape species called Danuvius guggenmosi from the middle of the Miocene. This species moved around in a previously unknown way, which the authors suggest could provide a model for the type of locomotion from which hominin bipedalism evolved.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the clues uncovered from such fossils can be difficult to interpret. Böhme et al 3 present fossils of a previously unknown ape called Danuvius guggenmosi, which the authors suggest provides a good model for the type of locomotion from which bipedalism might have evolved. The branch-point timings shown are approximate.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Fossil ape hints at how walking on two feet evolved

Kivell

2019

Nature

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A new Miocene ape and locomotion in the ancestor of great apes and humans

Cited by 90 publications

References 45 publications

Mandibular shape variation in mainland and insular hylobatids

Mandibular shape variation in mainland and insular hylobatids

The large-sized darter Anhinga pannonica (Aves, Anhingidae) from the late Miocene hominid Hammerschmiede locality in Southern Germany

Fossil ape hints at how walking on two feet evolved

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