The oldest known primate skeleton and early haplorhine evolution

Xijun Ni; Daniel L. Gebo; Marian Dagosto; Jin Meng; Paul Tafforeau; John J. Flynn; K. Christopher Beard

doi:10.1038/nature12200

The oldest known primate skeleton and early haplorhine evolution

Xijun Ni^*, Daniel L. Gebo, Marian Dagosto, Jin Meng, Paul Tafforeau, John J. Flynn, K. Christopher Beard

^*Corresponding author for this work

Cell & Developmental Biology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

150 Scopus citations

Abstract

Reconstructing the earliest phases of primate evolution has been impeded by gaps in the fossil record, so that disagreements persist regarding the palaeobiology and phylogenetic relationships of the earliest primates. Here we report the discovery of a nearly complete and partly articulated skeleton of a primitive haplorhine primate from the early Eocene of China, about 55 million years ago, the oldest fossil primate of this quality ever recovered. Coupled with detailed morphological examination using propagation phase contrast X-ray synchrotron microtomography, our phylogenetic analysis based on total available evidence indicates that this fossil is the most basal known member of the tarsiiform clade. In addition to providing further support for an early dichotomy between the strepsirrhine and haplorhine clades, this new primate further constrains the age of divergence between tarsiiforms and anthropoids. It also strengthens the hypothesis that the earliest primates were probably diurnal, arboreal and primarily insectivorous mammals the size of modern pygmy mouse lemurs.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	60-64
Number of pages	5
Journal	Nature
Volume	498
Issue number	7452
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12200
State	Published - 2013

Funding

Acknowledgements This project has been supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS, XDB03020501), the National Basic Research Program of China (2012CB821904), the CAS 100-talent Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40672009, 40872032), the US National Science Foundation (BCS 0820602), the ESRF (proposal ec347), and the Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Weare grateful toC.Li, Y. Wang, E.Delson, A.L. Rosenberger, E. Seiffert, M. T. Silcox and J. I. Bloch for helpful discussions. We thank C. Li and Q. Li for their assistance in the field, and C. Nemoz, T. Brochard and all the ID17 beamline team for their help during the synchrotron experiment. We thank the staff of the following museums for access to specimens: AMNH, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh; Royal Belgium Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels.

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title = "The oldest known primate skeleton and early haplorhine evolution",

abstract = "Reconstructing the earliest phases of primate evolution has been impeded by gaps in the fossil record, so that disagreements persist regarding the palaeobiology and phylogenetic relationships of the earliest primates. Here we report the discovery of a nearly complete and partly articulated skeleton of a primitive haplorhine primate from the early Eocene of China, about 55 million years ago, the oldest fossil primate of this quality ever recovered. Coupled with detailed morphological examination using propagation phase contrast X-ray synchrotron microtomography, our phylogenetic analysis based on total available evidence indicates that this fossil is the most basal known member of the tarsiiform clade. In addition to providing further support for an early dichotomy between the strepsirrhine and haplorhine clades, this new primate further constrains the age of divergence between tarsiiforms and anthropoids. It also strengthens the hypothesis that the earliest primates were probably diurnal, arboreal and primarily insectivorous mammals the size of modern pygmy mouse lemurs.",

author = "Xijun Ni and Gebo, {Daniel L.} and Marian Dagosto and Jin Meng and Paul Tafforeau and Flynn, {John J.} and {Christopher Beard}, K.",

note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgements This project has been supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS, XDB03020501), the National Basic Research Program of China (2012CB821904), the CAS 100-talent Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40672009, 40872032), the US National Science Foundation (BCS 0820602), the ESRF (proposal ec347), and the Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Weare grateful toC.Li, Y. Wang, E.Delson, A.L. Rosenberger, E. Seiffert, M. T. Silcox and J. I. Bloch for helpful discussions. We thank C. Li and Q. Li for their assistance in the field, and C. Nemoz, T. Brochard and all the ID17 beamline team for their help during the synchrotron experiment. We thank the staff of the following museums for access to specimens: AMNH, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh; Royal Belgium Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels.",

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AU - Flynn, John J.

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The oldest known primate skeleton and early haplorhine evolution

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