Dating of the sediments around the bones indicate that they were roughly 12.5-11.9 million years old, putting Pierolapithecus in the middle of the Miocene period and suggesting that it was one of the oldest of the great apes. Think of it as a kind of transitional form, or to use the overused (and misleading) term “missing link”, between the great apes and the “lesser apes” (i.e. it shared the same facial pattern as modern great apes, with a particularly Gorilla like face), it had yet to evolve all of their features (e.g. Pierolapithecus is hypothesized to be a basal (or early) member of the great apes, but while it can be identified as one (e.g. For example, the structure of the wrist, thorax and lumbar bones suggests that Pierolapithecus would have spent most of its life in the trees, rather like the modern-day Orangutan. Studying these bones and further finds gave paleontologists clues as to how Pierolapithecus may have lived. Reconstructions from these remains estimate that it wouldve weighed around 55 kilograms, around the same as a female chimp. Moving down, further remains were found of the thorax (chest and pelvis), lumbar region (the lower spine near the hips) and the wrist. These first finds consisted of cranial (the top of the skull) and postcranial (the back of the skull) elements as well as some isolated teeth. The name Pierolapithecus catalaunicus comes from the village where the first fossils were discovered: “Els Hostalets de Pierola”. This species is Pierolapithecus catalaunicus. One such ape was discovered in 2004 in the Catalonia region of Spain. But to understand the earliest evolution of the great apes (and by extension our own species) studies must be made of the often fragmentary remains of these first apes. This one member of the great ape lineage now has a population of roughly 7 billion, lives across the entire globe, and has changed the landscape of the earth to such an extent that many geologists think that this modern age is its own distinct geological period (known as the Anthropocene). Among these are, of course, the various species of human, including the only surviving one, our own (Homo sapiens). They first appeared around 13-15 million years ago in the Miocene period and would go on to diversify into a variety of different species. In terms of Mammalian evolution, the great apes (or “Hominidae”) are a recent development. ![]() Image Credit: Nasobema lyricum, (Kopie).jpg A replica of the fossilized skull of Pierolapithecus catalaunicus
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |