A morphological intermediate between eosimiiform and simiiform primates from the late middle Eocene of Tunisia: Macroevolutionary and paleobiogeographic implications of early anthropoids. Issue 3 (30th April 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Marivaux, Laurent; Essid, El Mabrouk; Marzougui, Wissem; Khayati Ammar, Hayet; Adnet, Sylvain; Marandat, Bernard; Merzeraud, Gilles; Ramdarshan, Anusha; Tabuce, Rodolphe; Vianey‐Liaud, Monique; Yans, Johan
• Is Part Of: American journal of physical anthropology. Volume 154:Issue 3(2014)
• Page Start: 387
• Page End: 401
• Publication Date: 2014-04-30
• Subjects: Physical anthropology -- Periodicals; Anthropology -- Periodicals; Anthropologie physique -- Périodiques; 599.9
• DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22523
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0002-9483

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>ABSTRACT</title> <p>Although advanced anthropoid primates (i.e., Simiiformes) are recorded at the end of the Eocene in North Africa (Proteopithecidae, Parapithecidae, and Oligopithecidae), the origin and emergence of this group has so far remained undocumented. The question as to whether these primates are the result of a monophyletic radiation of endemic anthropoids in Africa, or several Asian clades colonizing Africa, is a current focus of paleoprimatology. In this article, we report the discovery of a new anthropoid from Djebel el Kébar in central Tunisia, dating from the late middle Eocene (Bartonian). This taxon, <italic>Amamria tunisiensis</italic>, new genus and species, currently known by only one isolated upper molar, is among the most ancient anthropoids to be recorded in Africa thus far. <italic>Amamria</italic> displays a suite of dental features that are primarily observed in Eosimiiformes (stem Anthropoidea). However, it is not allocated to any known family of that group (i.e., Asian Eosimiidae and Afro‐Asian Afrotarsiidae) inasmuch as it develops some dental traits that are unknown among eosimiiforms, but can be found in African simiiform anthropoids such as proteopithecids and oligopithecids. With such a mosaic of dental traits, <italic>Amamria</italic> appears to be a structural intermediate, and as such it could occupy a key position, close to the root of the African simiiforms. Given its antiquity and its apparent pivotal position, the possibility exists that <italic>Amamria</italic> could have evolved in Africa from Asian eosimiiform or Asian "proto"‐simiiform ancestors, which would have entered Africa sometime during the middle Eocene. <italic>Amamria</italic> could then represent one of the earliest offshoots of the African simiiform radiation. This view would then be rather in favor of the hypothesis of a monophyletic radiation of endemic simiiform anthropoids in Africa. Finally, these new data suggest that there must have been at least two Asian anthropoid colonizers of Africa: the afrotarsiids and the ancestor of <italic>Amamria</italic>. Am J Phys Anthropol 154:387–401, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.</p> </abstract>