Pierolapithecus

Live reconstruction of Pierolapithecus catalaunicus at the Instituto de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont in Sabadell.

• Province of Barcelona, ​​Spain

Pierolapithecus catalaunicus is an extinct species of primate in the genus Pierolapithecus that occurred during the middle Miocene in Spain and is attributed by some authors of the tribe Dryopithecini. The fossils were by their discoverers to the paleontologists Salvador Moyà - Solà - placed close to the last common ancestor of all great apes and fossil species assigned explicitly as the great apes ( Hominidae ) - similar Anoiapithecus brevirostris.

Age

In the province of Barcelona, ​​near the village of Els Hostalets de Pierola discovered fossils to put this kind, dated their discoverer in the original description of Pierolapithecus catalaunicus in 2004 based on biostratigraphic analyzes in the period prior to 13 to 12.5 million years ago.

Holotype

As holotype, a partially preserved, consisting of 83 bone fragments skeleton of an adult male individual was reported in the original description (archive number IPS - 21350 ), which is kept at the Instituto de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont in Sabadell. Could be assigned to this fossil, among other things, the entire facial skeleton with preserved canines and molars of the upper jaw, fragments of shoulder blade, arms and legs, two complete and several fragments of ribs, vertebrae, and three small fragments of the pelvis. Were bared up the fossil bones at the site Barranc de Can Vila 1 ( BCV1 ).

Pierolapithecus catalaunicus is also the type species of the genus Pierolapithecus. This name is derived from the locality in the area of Els Hostalets de Pierola in the administrative district of Anoia, near the Montserrat mountains as well as of Greek πίθηκος, ancient Greek pronounced píthēkos = "monkey". The epithet catalaunicus refers to the Spanish Autonomous Community of Catalonia.

Significance of the find

With the help of so-called molecular clock has been calculated that at approximately the lifetime of Pierolapithecus catalaunicus the lineage of orangutans, chimpanzees, gorillas and humans from that of the " small apes " (such as gibbons ) separated. Depending on the calibration of this time is dated to the early to middle Miocene or, with a wingspan 17 to 12 million years ago. From this time not many meaningful discoveries of fossil apes are known to date; Pierolapithecus catalaunicus was the first well-preserved finds from the time before nearly 13 million years ago.

As evidence of the proximity of Pierolapithecus catalaunicus the common ancestor of all great apes whose "modern" physique, in particular the flat face without extended nose section, which is very flat chest, shoulder blades situated towards the back and the shape of the wrists in their entirety. An almost fully preserved lumbar vertebrae also occupied According to the original description the proximity to the great apes. The relatively small bones of the fingers and toes, however, are more similar to the comparable bones of the Cercopithecidae, so are original features. From the construction of the hands was closed in the original description that Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, unlike today's apes, rarely - if ever - below branches clawed, but like other primitive monkey was moving on the branches.

Interpreted A year after the first publication of North American paleontologists the fossil after an analysis of 96 of its characteristics as a sister species of Dryopithecus and thus as closer relatives only the African apes, but not the orangutans. This was contradicted by the main author of the first description, Salvador Moyà - Solà, in a 2013 published study. In it, the two relatively small fragments of the pelvis have been described and derived from their nature that the way shortly after the removal of the great apes should be classified by the other primate taxa, but before the spin-off of orangutans Great of the other great apes.