Evidence for Anthropoid Origins

Chris Beard is a chief proponent of the "Out of Asia" hypothesis for anthropoid (monkeys, apes and humans) origins. His latest find, Ganlea megacanina, offers further support for this idea and Beard presents this evidence in an article published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B this past July. The article discusses the specifics of the dental morphology of Ganlea at length and compares its features with those found in extant primates inhabiting the New World. The similiarities between the fossil and these NWM centers around atypical apical wear patterns on the lower canines that are consistent with diets which include hard, tough fruits that contain seeds. The new fossil species also exhibit a high level of canine robusticity not found among the other amphipithecids, members of the Amphipithecidae family, but do show apical wear patterns similar to those of Ganlea. This variation in canine robusticity is also found among extant pitheciins. The adult body mass of Ganlea was estimated at about 2 kg utilizing Glenn Conroy's mass estimation based on the area of the first molar of primates. This weight is comparable to that of the white-faced saki monkey (Pithecia pithecia) pictured below. The link to Beard's article is also below.



Article: http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/276/1671/3285