Earliest gibbon fossil found in southwest China

The discovery of the earliest gibbon fossil helps fill a long-elusive evolutionary gap in the history of apes.

There are 20 species of gibbons found throughout tropical Asia, and the work centers on hylobatids, a family of apes.

Terry Harrison is an anthropology professor at New York University and one of the authors of the paper. The new find extends the fossil record of hylobatids back to 7 to 8 million years ago and enhances our understanding of the evolution of this family of apes.

There is a fossil of a small ape found in southwestern China. The upper jaw of an infant that was less than two years old when it died was the focus of the analysis.

The scientists used the size of the molar teeth to estimate the body weight of the gibbons.

The teeth and lower face of Yuanmoupithecus are very similar to those of gibbons, but in a few features the fossil species was more primitive and points to it being the progenitor of all the living species.

Ji was able to identify the infant upper jaw as a hylobatid by comparing it to the skulls of gibbon. He invited Harrison and other colleagues to work on the collection of artifacts that had been in the Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Yuanmou Man Museum.

It has been possible to recover enough fossils to prove that the ape is a close relative of the hylobatids.

A study in the Journal of Human Evolution has found that a species of hylobatid that has been claimed to be an earlier species is not a hylobatid at all.

There is a 10-million-year gap in the fossil record due to the fact that the hylobatids were different from the great apes and humans. With continued exploration of promising fossil sites in China and elsewhere in Asia, it is hoped that additional discoveries will help fill the gaps in the evolutionary history of hylobatids.

More information: Xueping Ji et al, The earliest hylobatid from the Late Miocene of China, Journal of Human Evolution (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103251 Journal information: Journal of Human Evolution Citation: Earliest gibbon fossil found in southwest China (2022, September 14) retrieved 14 September 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-09-earliest-gibbon-fossil-southwest-china.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.