Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
PLoS One. 2012;7(6):e39617. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0039617. Epub 2012 Jun 25.
The extinct dryopithecine Hispanopithecus (Primates: Hominidae), from the Late Miocene of Europe, is the oldest fossil great ape displaying an orthograde body plan coupled with unambiguous suspensory adaptations. On the basis of hand morphology, Hispanopithecus laietanus has been considered to primitively retain adaptations to above-branch quadrupedalism-thus displaying a locomotor repertoire unknown among extant or fossil hominoids, which has been considered unlikely by some researchers. Here we describe a partial skeleton of H. laietanus from the Vallesian (MN9) locality of Can Feu 1 (Vallès-Penedès Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula), with an estimated age of 10.0-9.7 Ma. It includes dentognathic and postcranial remains of a single, female adult individual, with an estimated body mass of 22-25 kg. The postcranial remains of the rib cage, shoulder girdle and forelimb show a mixture of monkey-like and modern-hominoid-like features. In turn, the proximal morphology of the ulna-most completely preserved in the Can Feu skeleton than among previously-available remains-indicates the possession of an elbow complex suitable for preserving stability along the full range of flexion/extension and enabling a broad range of pronation/supination. Such features, suitable for suspensory behaviors, are however combined with an olecranon morphology that is functionally related to quadrupedalism. Overall, when all the available postcranial evidence for H. laietanus is considered, it emerges that this taxon displayed a locomotor repertoire currently unknown among other apes (extant or extinct alike), uniquely combining suspensory-related features with primitively-retained adaptations to above-branch palmigrady. Despite phylogenetic uncertainties, Hispanopithecus is invariably considered an extinct member of the great-ape-and-human clade. Therefore, the combination of quadrupedal and suspensory adaptations in this Miocene crown hominoid clearly evidences the mosaic nature of locomotor evolution in the Hominoidea, as well as the impossibility to reconstruct the ancestral locomotor repertoires for crown hominoid subclades on the basis of extant taxa alone.
已灭绝的干氏猕猴 Hispanopithecus（灵长目：人科）来自欧洲晚中新世，是最古老的化石大型猿类，具有直立的身体结构，并具有明确的悬挂适应能力。基于手部形态，拉伊托诺猕猴 Hispanopithecus laietanus 被认为是原始保留了对树枝上方四足运动的适应能力-因此展示了现存或化石人科动物中未知的运动模式，一些研究人员认为这不太可能。在这里，我们描述了来自 Can Feu 1（Vallès-Penedès 盆地，伊比利亚半岛东北部）瓦勒西恩（MN9）地点的 Hispanopithecus laietanus 的部分骨骼，其年龄估计为 10.0-9.7 Ma。它包括一个单一成年雌性个体的齿状和后肢骨骼，估计体重为 22-25 公斤。胸廓、肩带和前肢的后肢骨骼显示出猴子和现代人类似的特征混合。反过来，桡骨近端形态-在 Can Feu 骨骼中比以前可用的遗骸中保存得最完整-表明拥有适合在整个屈伸范围内保持稳定性的肘部复合体，并能够实现广泛的旋前/旋后。这些适合悬挂行为的特征，与适合四足运动的尺骨鹰嘴形态相结合。总的来说，当考虑到拉伊托诺猕猴的所有可用后肢骨骼证据时，该种属显示出一种目前在其他猿类（现存或已灭绝的）中未知的运动模式，独特地将悬挂相关的特征与对树枝上方掌行的原始保留适应相结合。尽管存在系统发育不确定性，但 Hispanopithecus 始终被认为是大型猿类和人类分支的已灭绝成员。因此，在这个中新世冠人科动物中，四足和悬挂适应的结合清楚地证明了灵长类动物运动进化的镶嵌性质，以及仅基于现存分类单元来重建冠人科亚科的祖先运动模式是不可能的。
