13-million-year-old fossil ape discovered in Uttarakhand
The finding, published within the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, fills a serious void within the ape fossil record and provides important new evidence about when the ancestors of today’s gibbon migrated to Asia from Africa.
The fossil, an entire lower molar, belongs to a previously unknown genus and species (Kapi ramnagarensis), and represents the primary new fossil ape species discovered at the famous fossil site of Ramnagar in nearly a century. (Representational Image/File)
An international team of researchers has unearthed a 13-million-year-old fossil of a newly discovered ape species in Uttarakhand, which is that the earliest known ancestor of the modern-day gibbon.
The finding, published within the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, fills a serious void within the ape fossil record and provides important new evidence about when the ancestors of today’s gibbon migrated to Asia from Africa.
The fossil, an entire lower molar, belongs to a previously unknown genus and species (Kapi ramnagarensis), and represents the primary new fossil ape species discovered at the famous fossil site of Ramnagar in nearly a century.
The researchers, including those from Arizona State University within the US and Panjab University in Chandigarh, were climbing alittle hill in a neighborhood where a fossil primate jaw had been found the year before.
While pausing for a brief rest, the team spotted something shiny during a small pile of dirt on the bottom .
“We knew immediately it had been a primate tooth, but it didn’t appear as if the tooth of any of the primates previously found within the area,” said Christopher C. Gilbert, from university of latest York within the US.
“From the form and size of the molar, our initial guess was that it’d be from a gibbon ancestor, but that seemed too good to be true, as long as the fossil record of lesser apes is virtually nonexistent,? Gilbert noted.
He explained that there are other primate species known during that point , and no gibbon fossils have previously been found anywhere near Ramnagar.
Since the fossil’s discovery in 2015, years of study, analysis, and comparison were conducted to verify that the tooth belongs to a replacement species, also on accurately determine its place within the ape genealogy , the researchers said.
The molar was photographed and CT-scanned, and comparative samples of living and extinct ape teeth were examined to spotlight important similarities and differences in gross anatomy , they said.
“What we found was quite compelling and undeniably pointed to the close affinities of the 13-million-year-old tooth with gibbons,” said Alejandra Ortiz, from Arizona State University, who is a component of the research team.
“Even if, for now, we only have one tooth, and thus, we’d like to take care , this is often a singular discovery.
It pushes back the oldest known fossil record of gibbons by a minimum of five million years, providing a much-needed glimpse into the first stages of their evolutionary history,” said Ortiz.
The researchers noted that the age of the fossil, around 13 million years old, is contemporaneous with well-known pongid fossils.
This provides evidence that the migration of great apes, including orangutan ancestors, and lesser apes from Africa to Asia happened round the same time and thru an equivalent places, they said.
“I found the biogeographic component to be really interesting,” said Chris Campisano from Arizona State University.
“Today, gibbons and orangutans can both be found in Sumatra and Borneo in Southeast Asia , and therefore the oldest fossil apes are from Africa.
“Knowing that gibbon and orangutan ancestors existed within the same spot together in northern India 13 million years ago, and should have an identical migration history across Asia, is pretty cool,” Campisano added.
