A group of scientists from Spain and the United States reconstructed the skull of an extinct nice ape species from a set of well-preserved, however broken skeletal stays. The bones belonged to (*12*) catalaunicus who lived roughly 12 million years in the past. Studying its facial options might assist us higher perceive human and ape evolution and the findings are described in a examine printed October 16 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
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First described in 2004, (*12*) was a member of a various group of extinct ape species that lived throughout the Miocene Epoch (about 15 to 7 million years in the past) in Europe. During this time, horses have been starting to evolve in North America and the first canines and bears additionally started to appear. The Miocene was additionally a essential time interval for primate evolution.
In the examine, the group used CT scans to virtually reconstruct (*12*)’ skull. They then used a course of referred to as principal elements evaluation and in contrast their digital reconstruction of the face with different primate species. They then modeled the modifications occurring to some key options of ape facial construction. They discovered that (*12*) shares similarities in its total face form and dimension with fossilized and dwelling nice apes.
However, it additionally has distinct facial options that haven’t been present in different apes from the Middle Miocene. According to the authors, these outcomes are according to the concept that (*12*) represents one of the earliest members of the nice ape and human household.
“An interesting output of the evolutionary modeling in the study is that the cranium of Pierolapithecus is closer in shape and size to the ancestor from which living great apes and humans evolved,” examine co-author and AMNH paleoanthropologist Sergio Almécija mentioned in an announcement. “On the other hand, gibbons and siamangs (the ‘lesser apes’) seem to be secondarily derived in relation to size reduction.”
Studying the physiology of extinct animals like (*12*) may help us perceive how different species advanced. This specific primate species is vital as a result of the group used a skull and partial skeleton that belonged to the identical particular person ape, which is a rarity in the fossil document.
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“Features of the skull and teeth are extremely important in resolving the evolutionary relationships of fossil species, and when we find this material in association with bones of the rest of the skeleton, it gives us the opportunity to not only accurately place the species on the hominid family tree, but also to learn more about the biology of the animal in terms of, for example, how it was moving around its environment,” examine co-author Kelsey Pugh mentioned in an announcement. Pugh is a primate palaeontologist with the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York and Brooklyn College.
Earlier research on (*12*) counsel that it might have stood upright and had a number of variations that allowed these hominids to hold from tree branches and transfer all through them. However, (*12*)’ evolutionary place continues to be debated, partially as a consequence of the injury to the specimen’s skull.
“One of the persistent issues in studies of ape and human evolution is that the fossil record is fragmentary, and many specimens are incompletely preserved and distorted,” study-coauthor and AMNH organic anthropologist Ashley Hammond mentioned in an announcement. “This makes it difficult to reach a consensus on the evolutionary relationships of key fossil apes that are essential to understanding ape and human evolution.”