i have like 10 pages of paper that is due today. and i only written like 4 pages and i can't come up with anything, since there aren't lot of info on what i'm doing.
INTRODUCTION
Primate evolution is still not fully known by humans due to fossil that haven’t been discovered yet. There has been many primate fossils found that are closely related to modern day great apes such as dryopithecus, afropithecus, griphopithecus, pliopithecus, sivapethicus, oreapithecus, and gigantopithecus. Most of these fossils were thought to be the last common ancestor to great apes. But new fossil discovery that was found in 2002 informed us about new last common ancestor to great apes, since it had physical features that are shared with great apes and hylobatids.
Expedition led by Miquel Crusafont Institute of Paleontology’s professor Dr. Salvador Moya-Sola found fossil remains around Barcelona belonging to superfamily Hominoidea, genus of Pierolapithecus, because it was found in Catalana region, the specie was named catalaunicus. Dr. Moya-Sola (2004) said that this extinct form of ape species lived around 13 million years ago (mya) in time of Miocene era. The skull, teeth, and skeletal bones of the P. catalaunicus were preserved, therefore contributing lot of information about what Pierolapithecus Catalaunicus was, to the scientific community. Moya-Sola suggested that Pierolapithecus was a last common ancestor to primates and humans since Pierolapithecus had many features resembling the great apes and primitive monkeys.
Skulll
The great apes foramen magnum lies in the base of the cranium, as a result apes are distinguished by orthograde posturing. Moya-Sola reported space with the eyebrows and nose was low and posterior. Also, it was described to have bigger teeth than Dryopethicus, Therefore, making P. catalaunicus’ face less orthognatous than all the other apes that lived in Miocene era.
P. catalaunicus was described by Moya-Sola to have elongated molar without cingula. No ridges around the molar indicates that P. catalaunicus was a fruit eater, since diet consisting of fruit in animals, show flat and rounded molars that are adapted to
pulping fruits.
Overall, the skull of the P. cataunicus is close to great apes of today and the past, but P. catalaunicus seems to be somewhere middle of hylobatids and great apes due to not so orthogthnataus facial structure.
Thorax and lumber region
The rib cage of P.catalaunicus was flat and broad more like great apes versus round rib cage that is present in monkeys. Lumber section of the spine was reported to be short and stiff, therefore having ability to climb trees and suggesting that it may have had a arboreal ability resembling the great apes. But Moya-Sola reported that P. catalaunicus also had primitive monkey-like features that included concave shape of ventrolateral sides. Overall, I came to conclusion from this section that P. catalaunicus is one of the species that is middle of the transition from hylobatids to great apes, but it is not the exact ancestor that gave rise to great apes. Because evolution takes a very long time and change in lumber region such as concave shape in ventrolateral sides will not occur overnight. Therefore, new fossils that fills out time gap of split between hylobatids and great apes needs to be discovered.
Wrist and Hand
Dr. Moya-Sola stated “The wrist-antebrachial character complex of extant hominoids is unique among primates and is characterized by a nonarticular ulnar styloid process associated with semilunar meniscusâ€Â. Technically, this character helps P. catalaunicus to convey their limb close to body’s sagittal plane and rotate their forearm. Therefore, this character may effectively help P. pierolapithecus to swing or climb the trees easy.
LAST COMMON ANCESTOR TO THE APES AND HUMAN?
P. catalaunicus is more modern than fossils that have been thought as a last common ancestor to great apes, but other fossils such as equatorius, nacholapithecus, pronconsul, and afropethicus that were found in Africa was thought to be last common ancestor to great apes. . But argument that P. catalaunicus has couple of flaws like saying that P. catalaunicus is the last common ancestor to the apes, because we could be finding another fossil that was even closer to apes and human this year. So, the argument should be that P. catalaunicus is the last common ancestor to apes and humans we know of.
P. catalaunicus has lot of shared features with modern day’s great apes such as thorax, lumbar regions, and wrist, but it has monkey like features such as short toes and fingers. But P. catalaunicus right between the transitions between hylobatids to great apes, but it seems it is too primitive to the last common ancestor.
There has been a argument led by Begun and Ward who are claiming that P. catalaunicus is sister to Dryopethicus taxon which can falsify the theory that P. catalaunicus is the last common ancestor to apes. But there could be possibility since P. catalaunicus lived in Miocene, when Dryopithecus also lived, so, they may have been related to each other somewhat. Stein and Rowe (2006) stated that first genus of Dryopethicus was discovered in Southern France, which is very close to the region of Catalana, the Northern region of Spain. The common features that were shared by them were “flat nasal, high zygomatic root, high nasoalveolar clivus, deep palate, and broad nasal aperture.†Therefore, P. catalaunicus may be closely related to Dryopithecus.
. Even though they theorized that P. catalaunicus was the last common ancestor to great apes and humans, it posed lot of problems since the fossil was found in Northern Spain, not Africa. But the scientist defended the theory by suggesting that P. catalaunicus lived on the both continents, since Mediterranean Sea expanded and contracted many times historically.
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