A new primate, they have called Pliobates Cataloniae, it has been discovered by researchers from the Catalan Institute of Palaeontology Miquel Crusafont. According to experts, could have been the last common ancestor between gibbons (lesser apes biped family of hilobátidos ) and great apes human .
Salvador Moya-Sola, director of this institution, said that the discovery was made from a skeleton of 11.6 million years found in the paleontological site Can Mata (Spain).
The remains of this new primate (70 bones of the skull, leg and left arm) corresponding to an adult female to paleontologists have named Laia, weighing about 4 or 5 kilos, fed soft fruits and hung in the tops of the trees.
The skull Pliobates Cataloniae has been reconstructed virtually with high resolution scanners and, thanks to the remains of the extremities, has been Laia has some primitive features, such as the anatomy of the arm, the joint between the humerus and radius, and the bones of the wrist.
The work of this team, published in the journal “Science”, radically changes the hitherto accepted model on hilobátidos and ancestor of hominids, and provide very strong clues to the origin of gibbons current.
According to Moya-Sola said the origin of gibbons is a mystery about the lack of fossil record, but until now most scientists thought their last common ancestor with hominids should be of great size, about 40 kilos.
David Laia Alba said that might have been the last common ancestor of all the large and small anthropomorphic and human .
Laia is noted that the species 17 million years ago did they separated the one hand gibbons, and other hominid and ape is the first small form present in the existing hominids, which has important implications for reconstruct the last common ancestor of both groups
Source:. EFE
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