Anoiapithecus

• Province of Barcelona, ​​Spain

Anoiapithecus brevirostris is an extinct species of primate in the genus Anoiapithecus that occurred during the middle Miocene in Spain and is attributed by some authors of the tribe Dryopithecini. 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 Anoiapithecus brevirostris in 2009 based on biostratigraphic analyzes in the time before some 11.9 million years ago. The fossils were by their discoverers to the paleontologists Salvador Moyà - Solà - already Pierolapithecus catalaunicus as in 2004 - placed close to the last common ancestor of all great apes and fossil species assigned explicitly as the great apes ( Hominidae ).

Anoiapithecus was in the original description also placed in the closer phylogenetic proximity to Dryopithecus, which is interpreted by other researchers as a side branch to the development of apes.

As holotype was designated in the original description of the highly fragmented facial skeleton of an adult male individual ( archive number IPS - 43000 ), which is kept at the Institut Català de Paleontologia the Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona. Could be assigned to this fossil, inter alia, fragments of bone from the area of the eye sockets, the palate almost completely preserved as well as parts of the maxilla and mandible respectively obtained canines and some molars. Were bared up the fossil bones at the site Abocador de Can Mata ( ACM/C3-Aj ).

Anoiapithecus brevirostris is also the type species of the genus Anoiapithecus. This name is derived from the locality in the region 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 brevirostris refers to the reconstruction of the shape of the resulting facial skeleton, derived from the Latin brevis = " short" and rostrum " snout".

Significance of the find

Finds of anthropoids ( Hominoidea ) from the Middle Miocene - the period before about 16 to 10 million years - have so far been relatively rare. However, they are considered particularly important for the reconstruction of the phylogeny of the great apes, as in this period 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. As the last common ancestor of these two lineages looked like is unknown, and where he lived is controversial. In the vicinity of these fossil ancestors among other things, numerous only since the 1990s, have become remnants of African fossils such as Kenyapithecus wickeri and Nacholapithecus and Equatorius africanus were asked. Other researchers had previously derived from the lack of African finds and the discovery of similar age fossils in Eurasia that the splitting of the two lines of development have occurred outside Africa.

The Spanish paleoanthropologists close in the first description of Anoiapithecus brevirostris this latter hypothesis and interpret their reconstruction of the fossil as an indication of origin of the major Asian and African apes in Europe. As evidence, among other things, its flat face are called without solid nose area as well as various special features of the teeth. Further evidence for their hypothesis they conducted a comparison of their reconstruction of the facial bones obtained from Anoiapithecus with the facial bones from other species, including a number of fossil species as Hispanopithecus, Ouranopithecus, Ankarapithecus and Sivapithecus and features a still living great apes.

A similar argument in the first publication of the Spanish salvaged the same locality, slightly older Pierolapithecus catalaunicus in 2004 had been contradicted shortly thereafter by other researchers. The hypothesis of the research community in Spain was also questioned in New Scientist of paleoanthropologists Jay Kelley, University of Illinois at Chicago, who pointed out that too few finds are known from Africa to commit to a particular area for the origin of the Apes to be able to. Similarly, the German paleoanthropologist Friedemann Schrenk expressed in the Süddeutsche Zeitung: "It is from that time until now simply no comparable bone finds from Africa. " But that is not hot, that developed there no apes; the Barcelona region is rather the main reason rich in fossils because they were there " exceptionally well " preserved. In the warm, humid forests of Africa, however, " the tradition potential equal to zero " is.