Pliobates
Appearance
Pliobates cataloniae Temporal range:
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Family: | Pliobatidae |
Genus: | Pliobates Alba et al. 2015[1]
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Species: | P. cataloniae Alba et al. 2015[1]
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Type species | |
Pliobates cataloniae Alba et al. 2015[1]
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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
- ^ a b c d e 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.