Pliobates cataloniae, a new primate species at the root of the tree of extant hominoids

A researchers team from the ‘Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont’ describes in the Science magazine the new species, Pilobates cataloniae.

The description is based on a partial skeleton composed of 70 fossil remains that they found in Can Mata( Cataluña, Spain) in 2011. Pilobates belong to an ape very similar in size to the smallest of living gibbons and which weight was 4 to 5 kg and lived 11.6 million years ago. Besides, it shows for the first time in a primate fossil of this size, a set of features of extant hominids, probably inherited from their last common ancestor.

The fossil remains of Pilobates, include cranial fragments, long bones of the left arm such as humerus or radius and for a further study, they have reconstructed the skull virtually. In despite of this, it provided a lot of information that suggest that Pilobates are the sister group of extant gibbons due to they show several similar features that are exclusive of extant gibbons. Furthermore, a phylogenetic analysis places Pilobates as the stem hominid closest to the divergence between lesser and great apes and as ICP researcher said “this find overturns everything”.

What do you think about this discovery? Is it not great to keep finding things that change our vision about our ancestors and evolution? Please share your opinion and if you want to read more click in the link below:

http://www.icp.cat/index.php/en/press-room/noticies-icp/item/2508-pliobates-cataloniae-new-primate-hominoideos-icp