The Miocene primate Pliobates is a pliopithecoid
Date
2024-04
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Nature Research
Abstract
The systematic status of the small-bodied catarrhine primate Pliobates cataloniae, from the Miocene (11.6 Ma) of Spain, is controversial because it displays a mosaic of primitive and derived features compared with extant hominoids (apes and humans). Cladistic analyses have recovered Pliobates as either a stem hominoid or as a pliopithecoid stem catarrhine (i.e., preceding the cercopithecoid–hominoid divergence). Here, we describe additional dental remains of P. cataloniae from another locality that display unambiguous synapomorphies of crouzeliid pliopithecoids. Our cladistic analyses support a close phylogenetic link with poorly-known small crouzeliids from Europe based on (cranio)dental characters but recover pliopithecoids as stem hominoids when postcranial characters are included. We conclude that Pliobates is a derived stem catarrhine that shows postcranial convergences with modern apes in the elbow and wrist joints—thus clarifying pliopithecoid evolution and illustrating the plausibility of independent acquisition of postcranial similarities between hylobatids and hominids.
Description
Keywords
Pliobates cataloniae, Biological anthropology, Phylogenetics, Taxonomy, Dental remains of P. cataloniae
Citation
Bouchet, F., Zanolli, C., Urciuoli, A. et al. The Miocene primate Pliobates is a pliopithecoid. Nat Commun 15, 2822 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47034-9