1. An eosimiid primate of South Asian affinities in the Paleogene of Western Amazonia and the origin of New World monkeys
- Author
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Marivaux, Laurent, Negri, Francisco, Antoine, Pierre-Olivier, Stutz, Narla, Condamine, Fabien, Kerber, Leonardo, Pujos, François, Santos, Roberto, Alvim, André, Hsiou, Annie, Bissaro Júnior, Marcos, Adami-Rodrigues, Karen, Ribeiro, Ana, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (UMR ISEM), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UR226-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM), Universidade Federal do Acre, Cruzeiro Do Sul (UFAC), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul [Porto Alegre] (UFRGS), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UR226-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universidade Federal de Santa Maria = Federal University of Santa Maria [Santa Maria, RS, Brazil] (UFSM), Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi [Belém, Brésil] (MPEG), Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales [Mendoza] (CONICET-IANIGLA), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas [Buenos Aires] (CONICET)-Universidad Nacional de Cuyo [Mendoza] (UNCUYO), Universidade de Brasilia [Brasília] (UnB), Universidade de São Paulo = University of São Paulo (USP), Universidade Federal de Pelotas = Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel), Museu de Ciências Naturais/Seção de Paleontologia, Brazilian Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, 306951/2017-7, 312941/2018-8, 140773/2019-3, 310023/2021-1, and 310948/2021-5, CNPq/MCTI/CONFAP-FAPS PROTAX 22/2020 441626/2020-3, and FAPERGS 21/2551-0000781-8)., Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, COFECUB program Te 924/18, 88881.143095/2017-01)., São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, process 2011/14080-0 and 2019/14153-0)., LabEx CEBA (ANR-10-LABX-25-01, and strategic project EMERGENCE).
- Subjects
Teeth ,Basal Anthropoidea ,Paleobiogeography ,[SDU.STU.PG]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Paleontology ,Brazilian Amazonia ,Phylogeny ,Platyrrhini - Abstract
International audience; Recent fossil discoveries in Western Amazonia revealed that two distinct anthropoid primate clades of African origin colonized South America near the Eocene/Oligocene transition (ca. 34 Ma). Here we describe a diminutive fossil primate from Brazilian Amazonia and suggest that, surprisingly, a third clade of anthropoids was involved in the Paleogene colonization of South America by primates. This new taxon, Ashaninkacebus simpsoni gen. et sp. nov., has strong dental affinities with Asian-African stem anthropoids: the Eosimiiformes. Morphology-based phylogenetic analyses of early Old World anthropoids and extinct and extant New World monkeys (platyrrhines) support relationships of both Ashaninkacebus and Amamria (late middle Eocene, North Africa) to the South Asian Eosimiidae. Afro-Arabia, then a mega-island, played the role of a biogeographic stopover between South Asia and South America for anthropoid primates and hystricognathous rodents. The earliest primates from South America bear little adaptive resemblance to later Oligocene-early Miocene platyrrhine monkeys, and the scarcity of available paleontological data precludes elucidating firmly their affinities with or within Platyrrhini. Nonetheless, these new data shed light on some of their life-history traits, revealing a particularly small body size and a diet consisting primarily of insects and possibly fruit, which would have increased their chances of survival on a natural floating island during this extraordinary over-water trip to South America from Africa. Divergence-time estimates between Old and New World taxa indicate that the transatlantic dispersal(s) could source in the intense flooding events associated with the late middle Eocene climatic optimum (ca. 40.5 Ma) in Western Africa.
- Published
- 2023
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