8.4: Planet of Apes
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GEOLOGIC ACTIVITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE MIOCENE
Geographic Distribution: Africa, Asia, Europe
WHERE ARE THE MONKEYS? OLD WORLD MONKEY DIVERSITY IN THE MIOCENE
Whereas the Oligocene deposits in the Fayum of Egypt have yielded the earliest-known catarrhine fossils, the Miocene demonstrates some diversification of Cercopithecoidea. However, compared to the numerous and diverse Miocene apes (see below), monkeys of the Miocene are very rare and restricted to a single extinct family, the Victoriapithecidae (Table 8.1). This family contains the earliest definite Old World monkeys. These monkeys are known from northern and eastern Africa between 20 million and 12.5 million years ago (Miller et al. 2009). The best known early Old World monkey is Victoriapithecus (Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\); Table 8.1), a small-bodied (approximately 7 kg; 15 lbs.), small-brained monkey with a long sloping face and round, narrowly spaced orbits. Victoriapithecus shares some cranial features with Aegyptopithecus; for example, both have a deep malar region of the zygomatic bone and a well-developed sagittal crest (Benefit and McCrossin 1997; Fleagle 2013). Beginning in the Early Miocene, and certainly by the Middle Miocene, bilophodonty, known to be a hallmark of molar teeth of modern Old World monkeys, was present to some extent. Although this dental feature is often indicative of increased leaf-processing efficiency in modern Old World monkeys, Victoriapithecus has been reconstructed as being more frugivorous and perhaps spent more time on the ground (terrestrial locomotion) than in the trees (arboreal locomotion; Blue et al. 2006). The two major groups of Old World monkeys today are cercopithecines and colobines. The earliest records demonstrating clear members of each of these two groups are at the end of the Miocene. Examples include the early colobine Microcolobus from Kenya and the early cercopithecine Pliopapio from Ethiopia.
THE STORY OF US, THE APES
African Ape Diversity
Eurasian Ape Diversity
THE ORIGINS OF EXTANT APES
Lesser Ape Origins and Fossils
Great Ape Origins and Fossils
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FIGURE ATTRIBUTIONS
Figure 8.4.1 Miocene Map with Fossil Ape Localities original to Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology by Elyssa Ebding at GeoPlace, California State University, Chico is under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License. Localities based on p. 311 of Fleagle, John G. 2013. Primate Adaptation and Evolution, Third Edition. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Figure 8.4.2 Range chart for Miocene hominoids of Western Eurasia by Casanovas-Vilar, Isaac, David M. Alba, Miguel Garcés, Josep M. Robles, and Salvador Moyà-Solà. Original from Casanovas-Vilar et al. 2011. Updated chronology for the Miocene hominoid radiation in Western Eurasia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108 (14): 5,554-5,559.
Figure 8.4.3 Victoriapithecus macinnesi skull photo taken at the Musee d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris by Ghedoghedo is used under a CC BY-SA 3.0 License.
Figure 8.4.4 Gigantopithecus blacki mandible 010112 by Wilson44691 is used under a CC BY-SA 3.0 License.
Figure 8.4.5 Oreopithecus bambolii 1 by Ghedoghedo is used under a CC BY-SA 3.0 License.