Fossil ape makes evolutionary debut

A roughly 13-million-year-old partial skeleton unearthed in northeastern Spain comes from a creature that, according to its discoverers, was a key evolutionary precursor of chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and people.

A team led by Salvador Moyà-Solà of the Miguel Crusafont Institute of Paleontology in Barcelona has assigned the find to a new genus and species, Pierolapithecus catalaunicus.

The spotty fossil record of apes that lived between 25 million and 5 million years ago consists mostly of jaw and skull fragments as well as isolated teeth. The new find is made up of an unprecedented variety of bones from a shoulder, and the face, chest, legs, hands, wrists, and upper jaw, including many teeth.

P. catalaunicus weighed around 75 pounds and was well suited for tree climbing, much in the style of later apes, the scientists report in the Nov. 19, 2004 Science. In particular, they say, the ancient ape’s broad rib cage resembles rib cages of modern-day apes and would have facilitated the flexible arm movements needed for climbing.

In contrast, the relatively short, straight finger bones in the Spanish find bear a strong resemblance to the digits of living monkeys, Moyà-Solà’s group asserts. P. catalaunicus apparently moved through trees without swinging from branch to branch as apes now do, the researchers conclude.

Further excavations need to establish whether this ancient ape also inhabited Africa, where many anthropologists theorize that the first apes emerged.

Bruce Bower has written about the behavioral sciences for Science News since 1984. He writes about psychology, anthropology, archaeology and mental health issues.

Use up and down arrow keys to explore.Use right arrow key to move into the list.Use left arrow key to move back to the parent list.Use tab key to enter the current list item.Use escape to exit the menu.Use the Shift key with the Tab key to tab back to the search input.
Logo

Looks like your ad blocker is on.

×

We rely on ads to keep creating quality content for you to enjoy for free.

Please support our site by disabling your ad blocker.

Continue without supporting us

Choose your Ad Blocker

  • Adblock Plus
  • Adblock
  • Adguard
  • Ad Remover
  • Brave
  • Ghostery
  • uBlock Origin
  • uBlock
  • UltraBlock
  • Other
  1. In the extension bar, click the AdBlock Plus icon
  2. Click the large blue toggle for this website
  3. Click refresh
  1. In the extension bar, click the AdBlock icon
  2. Under "Pause on this site" click "Always"
  1. In the extension bar, click on the Adguard icon
  2. Click on the large green toggle for this website
  1. In the extension bar, click on the Ad Remover icon
  2. Click "Disable on This Website"
  1. In the extension bar, click on the orange lion icon
  2. Click the toggle on the top right, shifting from "Up" to "Down"
  1. In the extension bar, click on the Ghostery icon
  2. Click the "Anti-Tracking" shield so it says "Off"
  3. Click the "Ad-Blocking" stop sign so it says "Off"
  4. Refresh the page
  1. In the extension bar, click on the uBlock Origin icon
  2. Click on the big, blue power button
  3. Refresh the page
  1. In the extension bar, click on the uBlock icon
  2. Click on the big, blue power button
  3. Refresh the page
  1. In the extension bar, click on the UltraBlock icon
  2. Check the "Disable UltraBlock" checkbox
  3. Marque la casilla de verificación "Desactivar UltraBlock"
  1. Please disable your Ad Blocker
  2. Disable any DNS blocking tools such as AdGuardDNS or NextDNS

If the prompt is still appearing, please disable any tools or services you are using that block internet ads (e.g. DNS Servers).