Two teeth from the newly identified ancient ape Buronius manfredschmidi, viewed from multiple angles
Böhme et al., 2024, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0
A small, herbivorous ape may have lived in Western Europe 11.6 million years ago. Smaller and lighter than any great ape known to date, the newly discovered 10-kilogram (22-pound) primate was probably a skilled climber that ate leaves, researchers say. Madeline Boehme At the University of Tübingen, Germany.
“This is a fairly small primate,” she says, “but it's different from all the known fossils and certainly different from all the modern great apes we've known so far.”
About 15 million years ago, during the Miocene, hominoids (great apes) became rare in Africa and more abundant in Europe. Hominoids sometimes shared habitats with other primates, including apes and pliopithecoids, extinct relatives of Old World monkeys, but hominoids do not appear to have coexisted with each other in Europe.
In 2019, Boehme and his colleagues reported the discovery of 37 bones at the Hammerschmiede site in Bavaria that appear to belong to an early, bipedal ape dating back 11.6 million years ago, which they named “hominoid.” Danubius Guggenmosi.
During the excavation, Boehme was surprised to find two small ape-like teeth and a kneecap in the same sedimentary layer. Danubius fossil.
“We kept saying, 'What is this?'” she says of these tiny fossils, “and we concluded that this is clearly something new.”
The fossils are too old for DNA analysis, Boehme said, so the researchers took detailed measurements of the juvenile's 7-millimeter-long molar and 16-millimeter-wide kneecap, as well as a fragment of a premolar that they believe to belong to a young adult. They also calculated the thickness of the enamel and took microscopic CT scans of the teeth.
The gorilla-like thin enamel suggests they probably ate soft foods like leaves, Boehme said, and the shape, thickness and ligament attachment sites of the kneecap are similar to those of arboreal primates, suggesting the apes were good climbers.
Researchers look at new ape Bronius ManfredschmidyThe fossil, named after the medieval name of the nearby Hammerschmiede site, was discovered by dentist Manfred Schmidt, who has been collecting fossils at the site since the 1970s.
Lack of competition for resources Bronius and Danubius Apes can coexist, says Boehme – Danubius They are thought to have eaten tough foods such as nuts and meat, and the team can't rule out the possibility that great apes, which could have been up to three times as heavy, may have preyed on smaller species, she added.
But these three fossils alone may not be enough to reach such a “big” conclusion, the researchers say. Sergio Almesia It is on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. “Small fossil elements may date to infancy. Danubius “The teeth definitely look like baby teeth. [baby teeth]. “
He also thinks the kneecap may represent the same species as the tooth: “It has been suggested that it belongs to a juvenile individual, but its size overlaps with the lower range of adult orangutans.” [which are much larger apes]” says Almesija.
Clement Zanolly A researcher from the University of Bordeaux in France also has doubts: “I'm not sure whether the teeth, especially the molars, belong to a hominoid or to another primate superfamily, a pliopithecoid.”
Boehme and his colleagues say their comparison rules out the possibility that the tooth is a milk tooth or a pliopithecoid tooth.
In any case, the fact that the two primate species shared the same habitat and possibly even interacted with each other is a “fantastic discovery,” Zanolli said, “and it reinforces the idea that Europe at that time was a luxurious and comfortable place for primates to evolve.”
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Source: www.newscientist.com
