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Fossil discovery sheds new light on evolutionary history of higherprimates by ferujkll sdff
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Fossil discovery sheds new light on evolutionary history of higherprimates by FERUJKLL SDFF
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| Article Posted: 03/08/2013 |
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Fossil discovery sheds new light on evolutionary history of higherprimates |
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An international team of researchers has announced the discovery ofAfrasia djijidae, a new fossil primate from Myanmar thatilluminates a critical step in the evolution of earlyanthropoids-the group that includes humans, apes, and monkeys. The 37-million-year-old Afrasia closely resembles another earlyanthropoid, Afrotarsius libycus, recently discovered at a site ofsimilar age in the Sahara Desert of Libya. The close similaritybetween Afrasia and Afrotarsius indicates that early anthropoidscolonized Africa only shortly before the time when these animalslived. The colonization of Africa by early anthropoids was a pivotal stepin primate and human evolution, because it set the stage for thelater evolution of more advanced apes and humans there. Thescientific paper describing the discovery appears in Proceedings ofthe National Academy of Sciences.
For decades, scientists thought that anthropoid evolution wasrooted in Africa. However, more recent fossil discoveries in China,Myanmar, and other Asian countries have rapidly altered scientificopinion about where this group of distant human ancestors firstevolved. Afrasia is the latest in a series of fossil discoveriesthat are overturning the concept of Africa as the starting pointfor anthropoid primate evolution. "Not only does Afrasia help seal the case that anthropoids firstevolved in Asia, it also tells us when our anthropoid ancestorsfirst made their way to Africa, where they continued to evolve intoapes and humans," says Chris Beard, Carnegie Museum of NaturalHistory paleontologist and member of the discovery team that alsoincluded researchers from Myanmar, Thailand, and France.
Beard isrenowned for his extensive work on primate evolution and anthropoidorigins. "Afrasia is a game-changer because for the first time it signalswhen our distant ancestors initially colonized Africa. If thisancient migration had never taken place, we wouldn't be heretalking about it." Timing is everything Paleontologists have been divided over exactly how and when earlyAsian anthropoids made their way from Asia to Africa. The tripcould not have been easy, because a more extensive version of themodern Mediterranean Sea called the Tethys Sea separated Africafrom Eurasia at that time. While the discovery of Afrasia does not solve the exact route earlyanthropoids followed in reaching Africa, it does suggest that thecolonization event occurred relatively recently, only shortlybefore the first anthropoid fossils are found in the African fossilrecord.
Myanmar's 37-million-year-old Afrasia is remarkable in that itsteeth closely resemble those of Afrotarsius libycus, a NorthAfrican primate dating to about the same time. The four known teethof Afrasia were recovered after six years of sifting through tonsof sediment near Nyaungpinle in central Myanmar. This locality occurs in the middle Eocene Pondaung Formation, wherethe same international research team discovered Ganlea megacanina,an influential fossil described in 2009 that helped solidify thepresence of early anthropoid primates in Asia. Details of tooth shape in the Asian Afrasia and the North AfricanAfrotarsius fossils indicate that these animals probably ateinsects.
The size of their teeth suggests that in life theseanimals weighed around 3.5 ounces (100 g), roughly the size of amodern tarsier. Because of the complicated structure of mammalian teeth,paleontologists often use them as fingerprints to reconstruct howextinct species are related to each other and their modernrelatives. These similarities provide strong evidence that Afrasia's Asiancousins colonized North Africa only shortly before the appearanceof Afrotarsius in the African fossil record. If Asian anthropoidshad arrived in North Africa earlier, there would have been time formore differences to evolve between Afrasia and Afrotarsius. The close similarity in age and anatomy shared by the two speciesmakes Afrasia a touchstone in the quest to date the spread ofanthropoid primates from Asia to Africa.
"For years we thought the African fossil record was simply bad,"says Professor Jean-Jacques Jaeger of the University of Poitiers inFrance, the team leader and a Carnegie Museum research associate."The fact that such similar anthropoids lived at the same time inMyanmar and Libya suggests that the gap in early African anthropoidevolution is actually real. Anthropoids didn't arrive in Africauntil right before we find their fossils in Libya." Implications for future research The search for the origin of early anthropoids-and, by extension,early human ancestors-is a focal point of modern paleoanthropology.The discovery of Afrasia shows that one lineage of earlyanthropoids colonized Africa around 37?? million years ago, but thediversity of early anthropoids known from the Libyan site thatproduced Afrotarsius libycus hints that the true picture was morecomplicated. These other Libyan fossil anthropoids may be the descendants of oneor more additional Asian colonists, because they don't appear to bespecially related to Afrasia and Afrotarsius. Fossil evidence of evolutionary divergence-when a species dividesto create new lineages-is critical data for researchers inevolution. The groundbreaking discovery of the relationship betweenAsia's Afrasia and North Africa's Afrotarsius is an importantbenchmark for pinpointing the date at which Asian anthropoidscolonized Africa.
"Groundbreaking research like this underscores the vitality ofmodern natural history museums," says Sam Taylor, director ofCarnegie Museum of Natural History. "Research like this can only besustained by the irreplaceable collections, curatorial expertise,and scientific infrastructure that natural history museums provide.At the same time, cutting-edge science like this revitalizes ourmuseum's educational programs and propels its mission." "Reconstructing events like the colonization of Africa by earlyanthropoids is a lot like solving a very cold case file," saysBeard. "Afrasia may not be the anthropoid who actually committedthe act, but it is definitely on our short list of prime suspects.". I am Other Luggage, Bags & Cases writer, reports some information about barb fitting brass , api line pipe.
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