Pliobates
| Pliobates cataloniae Temporal range: Miocene | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Primates |
| Suborder: | Haplorhini |
| Superfamily: | Hominoidea |
| Family: | Pliobatidae Alba et al. 2015[1] |
| Genus: | Pliobates Alba et al. 2015[1] |
| Species: | P. cataloniae Alba et al. 2015[1] |
| Type species | |
| Pliobates cataloniae Alba et al. 2015[1] | |
Pliobates cataloniae is a species of stem-ape that was found to be the sister taxon to gibbons and great apes and humans.[1] Its anatomy is gibbon-like; prior to this discovery, it was assumed that the ancestral ape bauplan was robust like Proconsul.[2] This species has mosaic characteristics of primitive, monkey-like features and the more derived ape characteristics; it was, however, not a direct ancestor of modern apes but rather a side-branch that retained the ancestral morphotype and was thus placed in its own family Pliobatidae.[3]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Alba, David M.; Almécija, Sergio; DeMiguel, Daniel; Fortuny, Josep; de los Rios, Miriam Pérez; Pina, Marta; Robles, Josep M.; Moyà-Solà, Salvador (30 October 2015). "Miocene small-bodied ape from Eurasia sheds light on hominoid evolution". Science 350 (6260): aab2625–aab2625. doi:10.1126/science.aab2625.
- ↑ Barras, Colin (29 October 2015). "Fossil discovery could be the last common ancestor to all apes". New Scientist.
- ↑ Kahn, Amina (29 October 2015). "Ancestor of all apes might not be what scientists expected, new fossil shows". Science Now. Los Angeles Times.
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