Nature 467, 1095-1098 (28 October 2010) | doi:10.1038/nature09425; Received 7 July 2010; Accepted 16 August 2010; Published online 27 October 2010
Late middle Eocene epoch of Libya yields earliest known radiation of African anthropoids
Jean-Jacques Jaeger1, K. Christopher Beard2, Yaowalak Chaimanee3, Mustafa Salem4, Mouloud Benammi1, Osama Hlal4, Pauline Coster1, Awad A. Bilal5, Philippe Duringer6, Mathieu Schuster1, Xavier Valentin1, Bernard Marandat7, Laurent Marivaux7, Eddy Métais8, Omar Hammuda4 & Michel Brunet1,9
Institut International de Paléoprimatologie et Paléontologie humaine, Évolution et Paléoenvironnements, CNRS UMR 6046, Université de Poitiers, 40 Avenue du Recteur Pineau, 86022 Poitiers, France
Section of Vertebrate Paleontology, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213 USA
Paleontology Section, Department of Mineral Resources, Rama VI Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
Geology Department, Al Fateh University, Tripoli, Libya
Geology Department, Garyounis University, Benghazi, Libya
Institut de Physique du Globe de Strasbourg, CNRS/Université de Strasbourg UMR 7516, Institut de Géologie, 1 rue Blessig, 67084 Strasbourg, France
Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution, CNRS UMR 5554, Université Montpellier II, Place E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, France
Groupe ‘TOTAL’, 2 Place J. Millier, la Défense 6, 92400 Courbevoie, France
Chaire de Paléontologie Humaine, Collège de France, Place M. Berthelot, 75005 Paris, France
Correspondence to: Jean-Jacques Jaeger1 Email: jean-jacques.jaeger@univ-poitiers.fr
Abstract
Reconstructing the early evolutionary history of anthropoid primates is hindered by a lack of consensus on both the timing and biogeography of anthropoid origins1, 2, 3. Some prefer an ancient (Cretaceous) origin for anthropoids in Africa or some other Gondwanan landmass4, whereas others advocate a more recent (early Cenozoic) origin for anthropoids in Asia1, 2, 5, with subsequent dispersal of one or more early anthropoid taxa to Africa. The oldest undoubted African anthropoid primates described so far are three species of the parapithecid Biretia from the late middle Eocene Bir El Ater locality of Algeria6 and the late Eocene BQ-2 site in the Fayum region of northern Egypt7. Here we report the discovery of the oldest known diverse assemblage of African anthropoids from the late middle Eocene Dur At-Talah escarpment in central Libya. The primate assemblage from Dur At-Talah includes diminutive species pertaining to three higher-level anthropoid clades (Afrotarsiidae, Parapithecidae and Oligopithecidae) as well as a small species of the early strepsirhine primate Karanisia. The high taxonomic diversity of anthropoids at Dur At-Talah indicates either a much longer interval of anthropoid evolution in Africa than is currently documented in the fossil record or the nearly synchronous colonization of Africa by multiple anthropoid clades at some time during the middle Eocene epoch.
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Vide VEJA: Humanos surgiram na Ásia e não na África, afirmam paleontólogos
Vide Folha de São Paulo: Dentes de macacos antropoides questionam tese sobre nossos ancestrais
Vide VEJA: Humanos surgiram na Ásia e não na África, afirmam paleontólogos
Vide Folha de São Paulo: Dentes de macacos antropoides questionam tese sobre nossos ancestrais
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NOTA DESTE BLOGGER:
Eu sei que os criacionistas vão deitar e rolar em cima desta descoberta. E acho que devem aproveitar este momento para deixar a Galera dos meninos e meninas de Darwin um pouco enfurecida, mas com pés no chão: ciência é evidência: os criacionistas defendem a origem asiática dos seres humanos.
Todavia, eu seria um pouco mais prudente, pois a Paleontologia é uma das áreas científicas onde as subjetividades ideológicas e os egos conduzem os pesquisadores: quem não quer entrar para a História da Ciência como quem descobriu o tal de elo perdido? Além disso, ciência é como biruta de aeroporto - aonde o vento soprar, a biruta vai...[@ EEAF, frase original deste blogger]
