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New link in humans, apes evolution found
Researchers have identified a new species of small ape that existed before the evolutionary split of humans/great apes (hominids) and gibbons (the \'lesser apes\' or hylobatids).
Washington: Researchers have identified a new species of small ape that existed before the evolutionary split of humans/great apes (hominids) and gibbons (the 'lesser apes' or hylobatids).
The discovery -- a partial skeleton found during the construction of a landfill in Barcelona, Abocador de Can Mata, in 2011 -- fills a gap in the fossil record, giving researchers another piece of information about the evolution of great and small apes.
Named Pliobates cataloniae, the new species has important implications for reconstructing the last common ancestor of the two groups (the living hominoids). Pliobates cataloniae lived 11.6 million years ago.
Anthropologists previously thought that great apes were present before small apes, mainly due to the lack of small apes and ancient gibbons in the fossil record. Scientists concluded the fossil remains belong to an adult female that weighed between nine and 11 pounds consumed soft fruits and moved through the forest canopy by climbing and suspending below branches.
