10 research outputs found

    An aberrant amphicyonid mammal from the latest Eocene of the Bose Basin, Guangxi, China

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    A new genus and species of an amphicyonid from the Bose Basin of Guangxi, south China, is short−jawed with relatively bunodont cheek teeth that are characterized by reduction in cusp number. This taxon is the oldest record of an amphicyonid from south Asia and possibly for all of Asia. Despite its antiquity, it is derived in the development of brachygnathy and differs from other early amphicyonids that have shortened faces. Evidently brachygnathy was established in this species without loss of p1–2 or m2–3, which became single−rooted from a primitive double−rooted condition

    Forty years on and still going strong: the use of hominin-cercopithecid comparisons in palaeoanthropology

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    Hominin-cercopithecid comparisons have been used in palaeoanthropology for over forty years. Fossil cercopithecids can be used as a ‘control group’ to contextualize the adaptations and evolutionary trends of hominins. Observations made on modern cercopithecids can also be applied to questions about human evolution. This article reviews the history of hominin-cercopithecid comparisons, assesses the strengths and weaknesses of cercopithecids as comparators in studies of human evolution, and uses cercopithecid models to explore hominin inter-specific dynamics. Cercopithecids appear to be excellent ecological referents, but may be less good when considering the cognitive abilities and cultural adaptations of hominins. Comparison of cercopithecid and hominin adaptations at Koobi Fora in East Africa indicates that, whereas the cercopithecids were largely grass- or leaf-eating, the hominins occupied a generalist niche, apparently excluding other primate generalist-frugivores. If any of the hominin species at Koobi Fora were sympatric, analogies with modern cercopithecids suggest that inter-specific contact cannot be discounted and may even have been beneficial
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