Uniquely derived upper molar morphology of Eocene Amphipithecidae (Primates: Anthropoidea): Homology and phylogeny

The extinct Southeast Asian primate family Amphipithecidae is regularly cited in discussions of anthropoid origins, but its phylogenetic position remains controversial. In part, the lack of consensus regarding amphipithecid relationships can be attributed to uncertainty regarding the homology of upp...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of human evolution 2013-08, Vol.65 (2), p.143-155
Main Authors: Coster, Pauline, Beard, K. Christopher, Soe, Aung Naing, Sein, Chit, Chaimanee, Yaowalak, Lazzari, Vincent, Valentin, Xavier, Jaeger, Jean-Jacques
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological Evolution
Bugtipithecus
Earth Sciences
Fossils
Ganlea
Haplorhini - anatomy & histology
Haplorhini - classification
Molar - anatomy & histology
Myanmar
Myanmarpithecus
Paleontology
Phylogeny
Pondaungia
Sciences of the Universe
Siamopithecus
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The extinct Southeast Asian primate family Amphipithecidae is regularly cited in discussions of anthropoid origins, but its phylogenetic position remains controversial. In part, the lack of consensus regarding amphipithecid relationships can be attributed to uncertainty regarding the homology of upper molar structures in this group. Here, we describe a virtually pristine upper molar of Pondaungia cotteri from the late middle Eocene Pondaung Formation of Myanmar, which is the first example of a relatively unworn and well-preserved amphipithecid upper molar ever recovered. The distolingual upper molar cusp in this new specimen of Pondaungia appears to be a lingually displaced and enlarged metaconule, rather than a hypocone or pseudohypocone as previous workers have thought. Reassessment of the upper molar morphology of other amphipithecids and putative amphipithecids reveals a very similar pattern in Siamopithecus, Myanmarpithecus and Ganlea, all of which are interpreted as having upper molars showing many of the same derived features apparent in Pondaungia. In contrast, the upper molar morphology of Bugtipithecus diverges radically from that of undoubted amphipithecids, and the latter taxon is excluded from Amphipithecidae on this basis. Phylogenetic analyses of several character–taxon matrices culled from the recent literature and updated to reflect the new information on amphipithecid upper molar morphology yield similar results. Consensus tree topologies derived from these analyses support amphipithecid monophyly and stable relationships within Amphipithecidae. Amphipithecids appear to be stem members of the anthropoid clade.
ISSN:0047-2484
1095-8606
DOI:10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.04.009