TY - JOUR
T1 - A new genus of pliopithecoid from the late Early Miocene of China and its implications for understanding the paleozoogeography of the Pliopithecoidea
AU - Harrison, Terry
AU - Zhang, Yingqi
AU - Wei, Guangbiao
AU - Sun, Chengkai
AU - Wang, Yuan
AU - Liu, Jinyi
AU - Tong, Haowen
AU - Huang, Baiting
AU - Xu, Fan
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. XDB26000000 ), the State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy (Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS; grant no. 173132 , 183122 ), the People's Government of Fanchang County, Anhui Province (The Excavations and Comprehensive Research Project on Paleolithic Site of Renzidong Cave in Fanchang County, Anhui Province), and an NYU travel grant. We would like to express our profound gratitude to Prof. Changzhu Jin of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) for inviting us to describe this important material and for supporting our research. We are grateful to the Anhui team members for their efforts and endeavors in the field. We thank the directors and staff of the following institutions for access to fossil material in their care: American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA; Beijing Museum of Natural History, Beijing, China; Geological Survey, Bangkok, Thailand; IVPP, Beijing, China; Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Barcelona, Spain; Universalmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria; Magyar Ällami Földtani Intézet, Budapest, Hungary; Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France; Natural History Museum, London, UK; Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel, Switzerland; and Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. We are grateful to Andrea Taylor, Eric Delson, and two anonymous reviewers for comments and suggestions that helped to improve the manuscript.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. XDB26000000), the State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy (Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS; grant no. 173132, 183122), the People's Government of Fanchang County, Anhui Province (The Excavations and Comprehensive Research Project on Paleolithic Site of Renzidong Cave in Fanchang County, Anhui Province), and an NYU travel grant. We would like to express our profound gratitude to Prof. Changzhu Jin of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) for inviting us to describe this important material and for supporting our research. We are grateful to the Anhui team members for their efforts and endeavors in the field. We thank the directors and staff of the following institutions for access to fossil material in their care: American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA; Beijing Museum of Natural History, Beijing, China; Geological Survey, Bangkok, Thailand; IVPP, Beijing, China; Institut Catal? de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Barcelona, Spain; Universalmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria; Magyar ?llami F?ldtani Int?zet, Budapest, Hungary; Mus?um National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France; Natural History Museum, London, UK; Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel, Switzerland; and Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria. We are grateful to Andrea Taylor, Eric Delson, and two anonymous reviewers for comments and suggestions that helped to improve the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2020/8
Y1 - 2020/8
N2 - A diversity of pliopithecoids is known from Miocene localities in Europe, but until recently, this group was relatively poorly represented in China. However, new discoveries have shown that Chinese pliopithecoids were taxonomically diverse and geographically widespread. The earliest pliopithecoids in China (and Eurasia) are Dionysopithecus and Platodontopithecus from the Early Miocene of Sihong, Jiangsu (∼19−18 Ma). During the Middle Miocene (∼15−12 Ma), several species of pliopithecoids are recorded at localities in Gansu Province (Laogou), Inner Mongolia (Damiao), Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Tieersihabahe), and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (Tongxin). Finally, a late-surviving anapithecine crouzeliid, Laccopithecus robustus, is known from the Late Miocene (∼7 Ma) of Shihuiba in Yunnan, which postdates the extinction of pliopithecoids in Europe (during MN 10). Paleontological investigations at a late Early Miocene locality near Fanchang in Anhui Province have yielded a large sample of isolated teeth (more than one hundred) of a previously unknown species of pliopithecoid. The associated micromammals indicate an age contemporaneous with the Shanwang Formation in Shandong Province (MN 3–4, ∼18−17 Ma). All of the permanent teeth are represented except for I2. With its unique suite of dental features, the Fanchang pliopithecoid can be attributed to a new species and genus. Shared derived features of the lower molars confirm that the Fanchang pliopithecoid has its closest affinities with European crouzeliids, but a number of primitive traits indicate that it is a stem member of the clade. The evidence points to China as an important center for the early diversification of pliopithecoids. Contrary to previous zoogeographic scenarios, the occurrence of an early crouzeliid in China implies that the Pliopithecidae and Crouzeliidae may have diverged from a stem pliopithecoid in Asia during the Early Miocene before their arrival in Europe.
AB - A diversity of pliopithecoids is known from Miocene localities in Europe, but until recently, this group was relatively poorly represented in China. However, new discoveries have shown that Chinese pliopithecoids were taxonomically diverse and geographically widespread. The earliest pliopithecoids in China (and Eurasia) are Dionysopithecus and Platodontopithecus from the Early Miocene of Sihong, Jiangsu (∼19−18 Ma). During the Middle Miocene (∼15−12 Ma), several species of pliopithecoids are recorded at localities in Gansu Province (Laogou), Inner Mongolia (Damiao), Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Tieersihabahe), and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (Tongxin). Finally, a late-surviving anapithecine crouzeliid, Laccopithecus robustus, is known from the Late Miocene (∼7 Ma) of Shihuiba in Yunnan, which postdates the extinction of pliopithecoids in Europe (during MN 10). Paleontological investigations at a late Early Miocene locality near Fanchang in Anhui Province have yielded a large sample of isolated teeth (more than one hundred) of a previously unknown species of pliopithecoid. The associated micromammals indicate an age contemporaneous with the Shanwang Formation in Shandong Province (MN 3–4, ∼18−17 Ma). All of the permanent teeth are represented except for I2. With its unique suite of dental features, the Fanchang pliopithecoid can be attributed to a new species and genus. Shared derived features of the lower molars confirm that the Fanchang pliopithecoid has its closest affinities with European crouzeliids, but a number of primitive traits indicate that it is a stem member of the clade. The evidence points to China as an important center for the early diversification of pliopithecoids. Contrary to previous zoogeographic scenarios, the occurrence of an early crouzeliid in China implies that the Pliopithecidae and Crouzeliidae may have diverged from a stem pliopithecoid in Asia during the Early Miocene before their arrival in Europe.
KW - Crouzeliid
KW - Dental morphology
KW - Phylogeny
KW - Pliopithecid
KW - Zoogeography
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102838
DO - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102838
M3 - Article
C2 - 32659499
AN - SCOPUS:85087692570
SN - 0047-2484
VL - 145
JO - Journal of Human Evolution
JF - Journal of Human Evolution
M1 - 102838
ER -