Pierolapithecus catalaunicus is an extinct species of ape that lived during the Middle Miocene, about 12.5–13 million years ago, in Catalonia, Spain. Described in 2004 from a partial skeleton discovered near Els Hostalets de Pierola, it is represented by one of the most complete Miocene ape skeletons from Europe. The species was described by a team of Spanish paleoanthropologists led by Salvador Moyà-Solà on the basis of a fossil skeleton, IPS21350 (nicknamed Pau ("peace" in Catalan as it was announced alongside Spanish demonstrations against the Iraq War)), discovered in December 2002. The finding was first reported in the journal Science on November 19, 2004. The skeleton is of an adult male individual, composed of 83 bones that make up the splanchnocranium, both maxillae, a complete set of cheek teeth, both canines, a right central incisor, zygomatics, lacrimals, a partial frontal, carpals, metacarpals, manual phalanges from two hands, tarsals, metatarsals, pedal phalanges, right patellar distal epiphysis, a left radius, some long bone diaphyses, two pelvic pieces, three vertebrae, two intact ribs, and twelve rib fragments of large size. They named their new genus after the nearby village Els Hostalets de Pierola, and Catalonia respectively.

Description

Moyà-Solà et al. initially founded the species on a set of unique characteristics, of which are the following. The frontal processes of the face remain on the same plane, the nasals are flat and sit beneath the lower rims of the orbit, the glabella is posteriorly oriented, the face is low, the brows are thin, the zygomatic root is high, and the nasoalveolar clivus is high. The rear border of the incisive foramen is in line with the P3, the palate is deep and stout, the nasal aperture is widest at the base, the interorbital distance is wide, the zygomatics expand to the side, the P3 is similar in size to the P4, there is reduced cusp heteromorphy, all molars save from the M3 are elongated, the upper molars and premolars lack cingula, the lingual cusps of the upper molars are positioned peripherally, the M2 is large and has cusp heteromorphy, and the upper canine is large and compressed in the crown. The ribs are very curved to form a thorax that is anteroposteriorly compressed, the clavicle is robust, lacking a ventral keel on the mid-lumbars, the pedicles of the neural arch are robust and stout, the spinous processes are slightly caudally inclined, the pedicle-body inserts the transverse processes, dorsally oriented and pedicle-born transverse process, the metacarpals and phalanges are short, the os centrale are unfused, the triquetrum is small and non-articulating with the ulnar styloid, and the crevice inserting meniscus attachment and pisiform facet is distally shifted. Although, the latter remains disputed.

The patella was like extant apes in dimensions, which is typically regarded as having a mobile knee. Pierolapithecus differs from monkeys, hylobatids, and basal hominoids through thicker patellae. As such, a derived knee might be related to enhanced climbing, notably vertical climbing. The pelvis shares an ancestral template with Proconsul nyanzae, which was modified for orthograde behavior (assuming that hypothesis is accepted), and suggests homoplasy in ape pelves.

Classification

Pierolapithecus demonstrates derived facial features and apelike skeletal adaptations that suggest that it is an early member of the ape clade. This genus, 12.5-13 mya in age, postdates the hylobatid-hominid split, which occurred anywhere from 14.9±2 or 14.6±2.6 mya. Much of the skeleton is derived, but the shortened phalanges are indicative of palmigrade adaptations that are primitive. This mosaic is important in ape evolution. Other hypotheses are that the taxon represents a stem pongine. Rather than a full common ancestor, it has been suggested that the species may be ancestral to humans, chimpanzees and gorillas but not orangutans, given certain facial characteristics. This genus is distinguished from pongines and share traits with extant hominines, suggesting a sister relationship with Dryopithecus (possibly in a tribe called Dryopithecini, having thick and thin enamel much like Ardipithecus/australopiths and Pan/hominins). A reconstruction of the face of Pierolapithecus catalaunicus indicates its morphology as most consistent with a phylogenetic placement as a stem hominid.

Paleoecology

Pierolapithecus bore thick enamel found in hard-object feeders, but its diet is not yet known aside from possibly having fed in trees like orangutans. which formed when the northwestern Mediterranean rifted to form a stretch between two mountain ranges. The proximal to distal-marginal alluvial-fan sediments cover the Miocene. It was discovered as a fossiliferous area by Guerín in the 1920s with an ape M2 mistaken as a suid, followed by the discovery of Dryopithecus fontani, Hispanopithecus laietanus, and Sivapithecus occidentalis in the area. From the area hailing Pierolapithecus specifically was explored from the 1950s–1970s from a garbage dump. 19 large and small mammals were discovered at the site, almost 300 macroinvertebrate fossils, and 83 hominid fossils (composing the holotype skeleton).

Pierolapithecus, like many other Miocene apes, is predicted to have been polygynous by its low second-to-fourth digit ratios, which are reflective of high prenatal androgen effects and correlated with polygyny in apes.

See also

References

  • BBC news: 'Original' great ape discovered
  • Research article and comments