A new species of great ape from the late Miocene epoch in Ethiopia - PubMed (original) (raw)
. 2007 Aug 23;448(7156):921-4.
doi: 10.1038/nature06113.
Affiliations
- PMID: 17713533
- DOI: 10.1038/nature06113
A new species of great ape from the late Miocene epoch in Ethiopia
Gen Suwa et al. Nature. 2007.
Abstract
With the discovery of Ardipithecus, Orrorin and Sahelanthropus, our knowledge of hominid evolution before the emergence of Pliocene species of Australopithecus has significantly increased, extending the hominid fossil record back to at least 6 million years (Myr) ago. However, because of the dearth of fossil hominoid remains in sub-Saharan Africa spanning the period 12-7 Myr ago, nothing is known of the actual timing and mode of divergence of the African ape and hominid lineages. Most genomic-based studies suggest a late divergence date-5-6 Myr ago and 6-8 Myr ago for the human-chimp and human-gorilla splits, respectively-and some palaeontological and molecular analyses hypothesize a Eurasian origin of the African ape and hominid clade. We report here the discovery and recognition of a new species of great ape, Chororapithecus abyssinicus, from the 10-10.5-Myr-old deposits of the Chorora Formation at the southern margin of the Afar rift. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first fossils of a large-bodied Miocene ape from the African continent north of Kenya. They exhibit a gorilla-sized dentition that combines distinct shearing crests with thick enamel on its 'functional' side cusps. Visualization of the enamel-dentine junction by micro-computed tomography reveals shearing crest features that partly resemble the modern gorilla condition. These features represent genetically based structural modifications probably associated with an initial adaptation to a comparatively fibrous diet. The relatively flat cuspal enamel-dentine junction and thick enamel, however, suggest a concurrent adaptation to hard and/or abrasive food items. The combined evidence suggests that Chororapithecus may be a basal member of the gorilla clade, and that the latter exhibited some amount of adaptive and phyletic diversity at around 10-11 Myr ago.
Comment in
- Oldest gorilla ages our joint ancestor.
Dalton R. Dalton R. Nature. 2007 Aug 23;448(7156):844-5. doi: 10.1038/448844a. Nature. 2007. PMID: 17713490 No abstract available.
Similar articles
- Late Miocene hominids from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia.
Haile-Selassie Y. Haile-Selassie Y. Nature. 2001 Jul 12;412(6843):178-81. doi: 10.1038/35084063. Nature. 2001. PMID: 11449272 - Asa Issie, Aramis and the origin of Australopithecus.
White TD, WoldeGabriel G, Asfaw B, Ambrose S, Beyene Y, Bernor RL, Boisserie JR, Currie B, Gilbert H, Haile-Selassie Y, Hart WK, Hlusko LJ, Howell FC, Kono RT, Lehmann T, Louchart A, Lovejoy CO, Renne PR, Saegusa H, Vrba ES, Wesselman H, Suwa G. White TD, et al. Nature. 2006 Apr 13;440(7086):883-9. doi: 10.1038/nature04629. Nature. 2006. PMID: 16612373 - Early Pliocene hominids from Gona, Ethiopia.
Semaw S, Simpson SW, Quade J, Renne PR, Butler RF, McIntosh WC, Levin N, Dominguez-Rodrigo M, Rogers MJ. Semaw S, et al. Nature. 2005 Jan 20;433(7023):301-5. doi: 10.1038/nature03177. Nature. 2005. PMID: 15662421 - Human evolution.
Wood B. Wood B. Bioessays. 1996 Dec;18(12):945-54. doi: 10.1002/bies.950181204. Bioessays. 1996. PMID: 8976151 Review. - Common patterns of facial ontogeny in the hominid lineage.
Ackermann RR, Krovitz GE. Ackermann RR, et al. Anat Rec. 2002 Jun 15;269(3):142-7. doi: 10.1002/ar.10119. Anat Rec. 2002. PMID: 12124900 Review.
Cited by
- A new ape from Türkiye and the radiation of late Miocene hominines.
Sevim-Erol A, Begun DR, Yavuz A, Tarhan E, Sözer ÇS, Mayda S, van den Hoek Ostende LW, Martin RMG, Alçiçek MC. Sevim-Erol A, et al. Commun Biol. 2023 Aug 23;6(1):842. doi: 10.1038/s42003-023-05210-5. Commun Biol. 2023. PMID: 37612372 Free PMC article. - Postcranial evidence of late Miocene hominin bipedalism in Chad.
Daver G, Guy F, Mackaye HT, Likius A, Boisserie J-, Moussa A, Pallas L, Vignaud P, Clarisse ND. Daver G, et al. Nature. 2022 Sep;609(7925):94-100. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04901-z. Epub 2022 Aug 24. Nature. 2022. PMID: 36002567 - Unsupervised learning of satellite images enhances discovery of late Miocene fossil sites in the Urema Rift, Gorongosa, Mozambique.
d'Oliveira Coelho J, Anemone RL, Carvalho S. d'Oliveira Coelho J, et al. PeerJ. 2021 Jun 8;9:e11573. doi: 10.7717/peerj.11573. eCollection 2021. PeerJ. 2021. PMID: 34164235 Free PMC article. - Divergence-time estimates for hominins provide insight into encephalization and body mass trends in human evolution.
Püschel HP, Bertrand OC, O'Reilly JE, Bobe R, Püschel TA. Püschel HP, et al. Nat Ecol Evol. 2021 Jun;5(6):808-819. doi: 10.1038/s41559-021-01431-1. Epub 2021 Apr 1. Nat Ecol Evol. 2021. PMID: 33795855 - Three-dimensional kinematics and the origin of the hominin walking stride.
O'Neill MC, Demes B, Thompson NE, Umberger BR. O'Neill MC, et al. J R Soc Interface. 2018 Aug;15(145):20180205. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2018.0205. J R Soc Interface. 2018. PMID: 30089686 Free PMC article.
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Research Materials
Miscellaneous